Newspaper history

The Lancashire Telegraph is now 120 years old.

The first copy appeared on the streets on October 26, 1886 and sold for a ha’penny.

It was known then as the Northern Daily Telegraph and it was the first evening newspaper to be published in East Lancashire.

The founder was Thomas Purvis Ritzema, a young newspaper manager, who had tried to buy an evening newspaper at several stations as he travelled across Lancashire one day, but discovered there wasn’t one published anywhere between Bolton and Glasgow.

Stirred into action, he purchased two shops at 19 and 21 Railway Road, Blackburn, close to the soon-to-be-opened railway station, for the launch of his venture.

For the first time, people in East Lancashire were able to read stories of local interest.

The paper was a success from the start and throughout the decades has continued to play a pivotal role in serving the community.

In 1894 the head office was moved to the corner site of Railway Road and High Street.

From September 7, 1939, soon after the start of World War II, advertisements gave way to news on the front page.

On December 10, 1956, it changed its title to the Northern Evening Telegraph.

Then on September 2, 1963 the name changed again to Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

The newspaper used full colour for the first time on November 11, 1963, with spot colour introduced on January 25, 1965, and colour in classified advertising following on March 19, 1965.

In 1982 it moved to its present head office in the High Street, which marked the introduction of new computerised technology.

And so almost exactly 100 years after the newspaper was founded - on Thursday, October 30, 1986 - all news content began to be handled electronically.

In 1995 it became the first regional newspaper in Britain to put daily, updated news on the internet.

And on July 17, 2006, the newspaper changed its name to the Lancashire Telegraph.

Website history

The Lancashire Telegraph was the first regional newspaper in Britain to put daily, updated news and sport on the internet, when its website This Is Lancashire was created in 1995.

The This Is Lancashire portal provided content not only from the Lancashire Telegraph, but also from its 11 sister newspapers in the county including the Bolton Evening News, the Citizen newspapers and Asian Image.

In 2006, individual websites were created for each of the newspapers, including www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk, which means that each area of Lancashire now has its own dedicated website.