Our History

The first newspaper published in Scott County was the Scott Banner, which began in 1873. Samuel Haynes, for many years prominently connected with newspaper enterprises in the county, was of the opinion that there was a newspaper published in the county earlier than the Scott Banner, but there are no records.

The Scott Banner was edited by Charles A. Hermans of Tazewell County, Virginia. In a short time Hermans sold his interest to Rufus A. Ayers and George B. Terrell. Terrell soon sold his interest to Ayers, who thus became the sole owner and editor.

The publication of the Banner was discontinued about 1876, but was again published on August 3, 1881. After that period, it changed hands several times and again was discontinued in either 1892 or 1893.

In 1883, a stock company of which Judge M.B. Wood was president, began publication of the Progressive Age, which was later moved to Big Stone Gap.

John A. Mahoney began publishing a newspaper called The Gate City Gazette about 1890. The Gazette was succeeded by The Scott County Journal which was published for a number of years. It was succeeded by The Scott County Leader which stopped publishing about 1903.

In the late 1890’s, another paper, The Messenger, was published for a short time. The Sentinel, founded by Gus Vicars, had a brief existence but stopped publishing due to a fire.

In 1903, The Gate City Herald was founded by C. C. and J. C. Boatright, who were succeeded by L.B. Boatright. After that, it was purchased by J. M. and C. H. Rollins, who later sold to C.T. Hash and R.V. Wolfe. C.T. Hash left the company and J.R. Addington and R.V. Wolfe became co-owners. Later, Howard Craft and Charles Compton purchased the Herald. On May 2, 1946, The Scott County News began publishing. The first publishers were W.H. Short, C.S. Draper and J.P. Dickson.

In November 1964, Bob Kane and Jim Fugate bought The Gate City Herald and The Scott County Virginian. The combined papers were called The Scott County Herald Virginian. In 1965, the two bought The Scott County News. Kane and Fugate owners sold the Herald Virginian to Frank Robinson in October of 1984. Frank Robinson also purchased The Scott County Press and the name was changed to the Scott County Virginia Star.

In 1993, Rex and Lisa McCarty purchased the newspaper and reaffirmed the focus of the newspaper as a community-based publication. They have been proud residents of Scott County since that time and consider themselves fortunate to be a part of the community.