The Sumter Item is a daily newspaper in Sumter, South Carolina, USA covering local news, sports, business, politics and community events.
The newspaper is published 5 days each week, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
The Sumter Item, formerly called The Sumter Daily Item, covers local news and events in the city of Sumter and across Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties in the East Midlands of South Carolina. The city of Sumter (not to be confused with the coastal Civil War-era fort) was named for General Thomas Sumter, the "Fighting Gamecock" of the American Revolutionary War.
The Item was founded in 1894 by Hubert Graham Osteen and today the newspaper remains in the hands of the Osteen family.
Noah Graham Osteen, the patriach of the Osteen family, spent his career in the newspaper business starting at the age of 12 when he joined The Sumter Watchman in 1855 as an apprentice. After completing his apprenticeship in 1861, he moved to Conway to run a newspaper started by the owners of The Watchman, H.L. Darr and A.A. Gilbert. The newspaper, The Horry Dispatch, was discontinued in 1862 because of the upheaval caused by the American Civil War.
Mr. Osteen worked for awhile in Columbia at a printing company, and following the war, joined a newspaper in Charleston, The Carolinian. When that newspaper folded in 1866, Mr. Osteen returned to Sumter to become a partner with H.L. Darr in operating a newspaper Mr. Darr had started, The Sumter News. In 1874 The Sumter News name was changed to The True Southron (in this context a "southron" is a person from the Southern United States or Confederate States of America).
In 1881, in partnership with the Rev. C.C. Brown, Mr. Osteen bought The Sumter Watchman and consolidated it with The True Southron into The Watchman and Southron. He later bought full ownership of the newspaper and continued to operate it until 1930, when it was consolidated into The Sumter Daily Item.
Noah Graham Osteen's son, Hubert Graham Osteen, had worked with him as editor from 1891 to 1894 and founded The Sumter Daily Item on October 15, 1894.
Circulation estimate: 13,644
This newspaper is owned by Osteen Publishing Co..
For Sumter Item contact information, see the South Carolina news media contacts at EasyMediaList.com.
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Rick Carpenter Named Managing Editor of the Sumter Item Write a Sumter Item review. Log in now if you are a Mondo Times member. If you are not a member, register for a free Mondo Times basic membership.
-- In November 2014, Rick Carpenter replaced Braden Bunch as managing editor of the Sumter Item.
Posted by Mondo Times Editors, Boulder Colorado, December 5, 2014Also in South Carolina...
Local news media in Sumter, South Carolina
South Carolina local news media
Sumter Item newspaper website