Founding and ownership
It was first published February 13, 1807 by John McLean (1785-1861), who eventually became an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. For a century, no copy was known of the first issue, the paper itself lacking a copy. However, one eventually was found in the archives of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts.
McLean sold the paper in 1810 to his brother, Nathaniel McLean. Over the next four years, Nathaniel partnered successively with the Rev. Adjet McGuire, Samuel H. Hale, Henry Lazier, Joseph Henderson, and William Blackburn. In 1814, Nathaniel sold his interest to his brother William McLean (1794-1863) who published it with Blackburn until 1816, when Blackburn departed.
In 1817, William McLean sold to Abram Van Vleet, a justice of the peace, and John Eddy (1762-1824). Later that year they took on William A. Camron (died 1838) as a partner. Eddy left that year, replaced by a man named Cunningham who did not last the year. In 1825, Van Vleet and Eddy sold to Anthony Howard Dunlavy, an attorney who served in the Ohio General Assembly and as Warren County prosecutor, and William A. Sellers, a member of the General Assembly in 1838. In 1827, they sold the paper to Camron and Jacob Morris, who was married to Dunlavy's sister and later was Warren County treasurer. In 1828, Camron sold to Dunlavy, who was partners with his brother-in-law until 1829 when Morris assumed sole control. Morris took on an apprentice circa 1830, William H. P. Denny. He became Morris's partner, and in 1834, sole owner.
In 1858, Denny sold his interest and left town. The new owner was Dr. James Scott, who served in the Ohio General Assembly, followed by William H. Corwin, son of the founder of Lebanon, and, by the late 1860s, Seth W. Brown, an attorney who later served as Warren County prosecutor. The paper at this time was a Republican journal.
On January 19, 1871, Brown sold to William C. McClintock (born 1845) and Clements Hardy. McClintock assumed sole ownership on January 16, 1873. He published the paper, then a seven-column quarto, and introduced steam printing presses. He owned the paper until circa 1893 when ownership was assumed by a corporation, the Western Star Publishing Company, which was controlled by McClintock until 1907, when John M. Mulford took over and owned it until 1921. In May 1902, a linotype machine to set type was introduced. On September 6, 1923, the Brown Publishing Company, the company owned by Congressman Clarence J. Brown, bought the paper and owned it until 1998.
Brown's first act was to appoint as editor and publisher Gardner H. Townsley (circa 1897–1967), whose claim to fame was having been the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale's college roommate. He expanded the paper from twelve to sixteen pages. He subsequently served as publisher over a succession of editors: Warren Nelson, Ed Thompson, Jamyes Myers, and David Schneider. Townsley served as publisher until his death.
His son Robert N. Townsley (died April 17, 1994) replaced him as publisher, with Schneider continuing as editor. In October 1968, Townsley was replaced by William Kreeger, who had the title "general manager" until March 1970 when he was named publisher. Janet Goode became editor in January 1970 and served until October of that year when she was replaced by John Nichols. Nichols served until August 1971 when Joe Falter became editor. Falter served until he retired in 1994. Thomas Barr served as Western Star editor from 1994 until 2008. In 1990, Fred Gibson became publisher and served until the paper's sale in 1998. Under both Falter and Barr, through 2007 the paper earned many first or second place honors in General Excellence in the Ohio Newspaper Association Hooper Awards, and in 2007 the paper earned third place nationwide in the Best Non-Daily contest by the national Suburban Newspapers of America.
In the 1998, Brown traded The Western Star along with the Star Press in Springboro, Today's Express in Morrow, the Monroe Times, and the Miamisburg-West Carrollton News to The Thomson Corporation, a Canadian newspaper company known for the poor quality of its publications, in exchange for three daily papers, the Piqua Daily Call, the Xenia Daily Gazette, and the Greenville Daily Advocate. When the company decided to exit the newspaper business, Thomson sold The Western Star to Cox on September 1, 2000, though only after Thomson's original plans to sell the paper to Gannett, owner of The Cincinnati Enquirer, fell apart. From late 1991 to January 13, 2013, the paper issued a free Sunday edition, although for its last few years it contained exclusively advertising. Under Cox it surrendered its second class mailing permit, ceased its distribution in the southern part of Warren County, and began to be distributed free to homes in Lebanon and Turtlecreek Township.
