Newspapers

As far as can be determined, only a few Jefferson County newspapers have been published.  Existing issues have been microfilmed.  A few original editions are in archive collections.  An article in a 1962 edition of the Dandridge Banner stated the county had been "served over 150 years" by newspapers.

The Knoxville Gazette, first published in 1791 by George Roulstone, was read in Jefferson County.  After moving to Knoxville, Roulstone also served as Postmaster.  As such, he handled mail for most of East Tennessee.  Everyone traveling through the territory was an ad hoc mail carrier.  Roulstone also opened a private postal service, with the goal of increasing subscriptions to his newspaper.  This regular post connected area residents on a weekly basis:

He will set out every other Monday, and go by Maryville to Sevierville; from thence, by Dandridge, to Hugh Neilson's, Esq., on Lick Creek; from thence to Hawkins' Court-House; and from thence, by Haine's Iron Works, crossing at McBee's Ferry, to Knoxville.

The route was expected to be extended as subscribers were added.  Other papers, published in Knoxville, Rogersville, Morristown, Newport, and Sevierville, have provided Jefferson County coverage through the years.

The Standard Publishing Company (P. O. Box 310, Jefferson City, TN 37760) publishes Jefferson County's largest local newspaper bi-weekly, The Standard Banner.  It has original volumes of the Jefferson County Standard-Banner from approximately 1965.

The following table contains a list of known Jefferson County newspapers and their dates of publication:

A detailed list of issues that have been microfilmed and that exist in their original format is included in Guide to Genealogical and Historical Research in Jefferson County, Tennessee, by Billie R. McNamara.