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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Evening Capital (Annapolis, Md.) 1922-1981 Annapolis evening capital

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About Evening Capital (Annapolis, Md.) 1922-1981

The Evening Capital was the first daily newspaper published in Annapolis, Maryland’s capital city. William M. Abbott (1839-1912), a former compositor for the Baltimore Sun newspaper, commenced publication in 1883. In 1910, Abbott purchased the weekly Maryland Gazette from Colonel Phillip E. Porter and merged the two titles. William Abbott employed his daughter Emma Abbott Gage as the newspaper’s editor and his son Charles B. Abbott as business manager. The Abbott family sold the Evening Capital and Maryland Gazette to the Capital Publishing Company in 1918, which in turn was sold to Ridgely P. Melvin in 1919. In 1922, the title returned to Evening Capital. The Capital-Gazette Press Company acquired the paper from Melvin in 1926 and hired Francis O. White, Jr. as its managing editor.

In the years following the Civil War, Annapolis faded economically, although it continued as a center of boat building and other maritime industries. The presence of the state government and the U.S. Naval Academy provided some fodder for local journalism, but overall the Evening Capital chronicled the everyday life of a sleepy, provincial town. The development in the 1880s and 90s of Bay Ridge as a nearby bayside resort attracted wealthy families from Baltimore and Washington who used newly established short line railroads to escape the summer heat. The colonial heritage of Annapolis was the topic of coverage when the town celebrated its bicentennial in 1894, but the modern world intruded in 1898 when a captured Spanish admiral and 45 of his officers were housed at the Naval Academy during the Spanish-American War. In the early years of the 20th century, the expansion of the Academy was simultaneously a source of cautious optimism for its economic impact and some concern as Annapolitans made their first steps toward preserving the town’s historic buildings.

At various times, the Evening Capital claimed to be the oldest newspaper in America because of its association with the Maryland Gazette; however, this is a dubious claim at best. Two Annapolis newspapers named the Maryland Gazette began publication in 1727 and 1745. The first published by William Parks ceased in 1734, while the second title founded by Jonas Green and continued by his family was published until 1839 as the Maryland Gazette and Political Intelligencer, the Maryland Gazette and State Register, and Maryland Gazette. In 1854, R.D. Sellman and Thomas J. Wilson started the Annapolis Gazette newspaper and a later owner continued the numbering sequence of the old Maryland Gazette. There appears, however, to have been no continuity in ownership or editorial succession. The Annapolis Gazette renamed itself the Maryland Gazette in 1874.

Provided By: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Evening Capital (Annapolis, Md.) 1922-1981

Other Title

  • Annapolis evening capital

Dates of Publication

  • 1922-1981

Created / Published

  • Annapolis, Md. : Capital Pub., 1922-1981.

Headings

  • -  Annapolis (Md.)--Newspapers
  • -  Maryland--Annapolis
  • -  United States--Maryland--Anne Arundel--Annapolis

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily (except Sunday)
  • -  Vol. 77, no. 71 (Aug. 3, 1922)-June 20, 1981.
  • -  Available on microfilm from the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Capital (Annapolis, Md.) (DLC)sn 83009629 (OCoLC)9236150

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83009667

OCLC Number

  • 9259920

ISSN Number

  • 2643-8704

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Evening Capital Annapolis, Md. -1981. (Annapolis, MD), Jan. 1 1922. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83009667/.

APA citation style:

(1922, January 1) Evening Capital Annapolis, Md. -1981. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83009667/.

MLA citation style:

Evening Capital Annapolis, Md. -1981. (Annapolis, MD) 1 Jan. 1922. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83009667/.