Cleveland Daily Banner, TN

The Cleveland Daily Banner is a newspaper published in Cleveland, TN on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and online every day at www.clevelandbanner.com.

In a look back at the pages of Cleveland’s and Bradley County’s history, one of the most prominent sources of preserving that history for a century and a half is the county’s longest-running newspaper — and one of Tennessee’s oldest — the Cleveland Daily Banner.

The Banner was founded as a Democratic weekly by Robert McNelly on May 1, 1854. According to the book, “The History of Bradley County,” the Banner’s newspaper business ran smoothly and published without fail for almost a decade until the fall of 1863, when McNelly, a Southern supporter during the Civil War, was arrested by Federal troops. Production of the paper was suspended for two years.

Almost two years to the day, Sept. 16, 1865, he resumed the Banner’s publication as a partnership with his son, J.R. He had to sign a pledge of allegiance to the Union.

Robert McNelly died on April 7, 1882 and leadership of the newspaper was assumed by his son, J.R.

J.R. sold the paper to V.A. Clemmer and James H. Bible, who merged the Banner with the Polk and Bradley News. The Polk County News, which had moved to Cleveland from Benton, merged with the Banner in 1885.

In 1891, that collapsed, and James I. McReynolds purchased the equipment and started the Cleveland Journal.

J.B. Stern started his paper in 1893 and called it the Banner. The rival papers both laid claim to the 1854 founding date.

By November 1894, a new paper was announced by W.S. Tipton, after a previous paper failed. This was the Cleveland Banner, being named after the paper once operated by McNelly and son. Meanwhile, a rivalry ensued between the Banner and the Journal. The verbal dispute continued for several years until H.M. Linn bought the Journal from McReynolds.

After a few years, the Banner was sold to Gus A. Cate, who published it as a Republican newspaper. A couple of years later in 1902, it was sold to Charles T. Campbell and was again a Democratic paper.

After a fire destroyed the Banner building in 1906, Linn bought the name and goodwill and combined the two newspapers into the Journal and Banner. This settled the dispute as to which paper was started in 1854.

In 1916, the paper was sold to Will A. and Walter E. Rodgers, who changed the name to the Cleveland Banner. Walter Rodgers later sold his interest in the newspaper to William Hall Rodgers, son of Will L. Rodgers.

The paper continued to be directed by Will Rodgers until 1946, when Carmage Walls purchased the Banner.

In the fall of 1956, the paper changed hands again as C. Lee Walls and Syd S. Gould purchased the paper from Carmage Walls.

In September 2022, Paxton Media Group in Paducah, KY purchased the Cleveland Daily Banner from Walls Newspapers.