| St. Marys Oracle | |
| Type: | Weekly newspaper |
| Foundation: | 1877 |
| Owners: | West Central Publishing Inc. |
| Circulation: | 2,006 |
| Circulation Date: | 2016 |
| Circulation Ref: | [1] |
| Headquarters: | 206 George St, St Marys, WV |
The St. Marys Oracle is a newspaper serving St Marys, West Virginia, and surrounding Pleasants County.[2] Published weekly, it has a circulation of 2,006 and is owned by West Central Publishing Inc.[3]
The paper was established in 1877 as the Democratic weekly The Observer by M. P. Prettyman,[4] who bought the printing plant of the failed West Virginia Methodist Protestant.[5] Prettyman, a schoolteacher who had developed an interest in typography, taught himself over a series of weekends to set type and run the press. He would later change the paper's to The Oracle in 1881.[6]
The paper passed through a number of owner's before becoming R. A. Gallagher purchased it and changed the name to the St Marys Oracle in 1885.[7] For a period of 15 years Gallagher ran it, selling a half interest to Robert L. Pemberton in 1902 who managed it from that time forward, buying the full interest in 1909.
By 1920 it had a paid circulation of 1,000.[8]
In 2003, the paper sued the Pleasants school board, claiming it had violated the state's Sunshine Laws by not providing adequate details in a meeting where layoffs were proposed.[9] The two parties were able to resolve the lawsuit out of court, with the paper agreeing that the omission had been unintentional.[10]