[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 65 (Thursday, May 6, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TRIBUTE TO THE KEENE SENTINEL, NEW HAMPSHIRE'S OLDEST NEWSPAPER

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                          HON. CHARLES F. BASS

                            of new hampshire

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 6, 1999

  Mr. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to The Keene 
Sentinel. 1999 marks the bicentennial of The Sentinel, the oldest 
newspaper in New Hampshire, and the fifth oldest paper in the nation to 
be published continuously under the same name.
  Under the guiding hand of publisher John Prentiss, the first edition 
of the New Hampshire Sentinel was issued in Keene on March 23, 1799. 
After 89 years as a weekly paper, The Sentinel began daily publication 
in 1890, and became a seven-day publication with the launch of a Sunday 
edition in 1996.
  With the exception of 30 years in the 1800s, The Sentinel has been 
owned and operated by only two families: John Prentiss and his 
descendants, and then the Ewing family, which acquired the newspaper in 
1954. The paper has enjoyed local and independent ownership throughout 
its 200 years.
  Mr. Speaker, The Keene Sentinel, based in Cheshire County, serves the 
many communities of the Monadnock Region in southwestern New Hampshire. 
During the last two centuries, The Sentinel has chronicled the 
cultural, economic and social history of the region.
  When John Prentiss first began publishing the paper in 1799, he had 
just one assistant. As Keene and the towns in the surrounding area have 
grown, the newspaper has expanded to meet the needs of the community. 
Today, with a circulation of 15,000, The Sentinel employs more than 100 
people.
  The Keene Sentinel has become a force in the community, advocating 
for open government, land use planning, and environmentally sensitive 
economic development in the Monadnock Region.
  Mr. Speaker, I celebrate the institutional history of The Sentinel as 
well as the service the paper has provided to the community during the 
past 200 years.

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