| Courier-Tribune | |
| Type: | Weekly newspaper |
| Owners: | CherryRoad Media |
| Founder: | Robert Hugh Miller |
| Foundation: | April 1846 (as Liberty Tribune) |
| Language: | English |
| Headquarters: | 104 N. Main Street |
| Publishing City: | Liberty, Missouri |
| Sister Newspapers: | Gladstone Dispatch |
Courier-Tribune is a weekly newspaper in Liberty, Missouri.
Courier-Tribune traces it's earliest roots back to the Liberty Tribune, known colloquially as the "Lib Trib", founded in April 1846 by Robert Hugh Miller.[1] Miller, who was 19 years old at the time, used a loan of $5,000 to start the paper. The paper was founded as a Whig newspaper.[2] Miller ran the newspaper for 40 years.[3]
The Liberty Tribune was originally published as The Weekly Tribune between April 4, 1846, and July 9, 1852,[4] but changed its name to Liberty Weekly Tribune beginning with the July 16, 1852 issue.[5] The name was again changed in 1860 to The Liberty Tribune beginning with the August 17, 1860 issue.[6]
From 1890 to 1929, the paper was published by owner, editor and publisher Irving Gilmer.[7] For a short time, during the Spanish–American War in 1898, the Liberty Tribune was published daily.[8]
In February 2017, the Liberty Tribune merged with sister publications The Kearney Courier and The Smithville Herald to form the Courier-Tribune. The consolidated weekly newspaper was owned by St. Joseph-based News-Press & Gazette Company.[9] At the time of its merger, the Liberty Tribune was the longest continuous weekly newspaper being published in Missouri under the same name.[10]
In August 2023, the Courier-Tribune was sold to CherryRoad Media.[11]
The Missouri Digital Heritage Collection, hosted by the Missouri Secretary of State, currently includes scanned copies of the Liberty Tribune from 1846 to 1848, 1852–1867, 1869–1878, 1880, 1882, and 1883. [12]