June 17, 1961
The St. Albert Gazette publishes its first issue. Founder Wim Netelenbos Sr. initially operated the paper out of his home at 44 Sunset Blvd. It later moved to the second floor at 12 Perron St. (then spelled Piron). Published as an 8.5-by-11-inch newsletter, the Gazette was usually 28 black-and-white pages. Writers were most often volunteers and news was focused on town council and other small happenings. In its early years, the Gazette published every Saturday. It would later become a Wednesday publication.
Summer 1966
Ponoka newspaper couple Shirley and Ernie Jamison buy the Gazette and move their family to St. Albert. Within weeks, the publication is being printed on newsprint at a bona fide newspaper press. The focus continues to be local politics.
1968
The Gazette purchases a building at 31 Perron St. and relocates the business.
1975
Sandy Sokalski begins working at the Gazette. Sandy would eventually marry Duff Jamison, Shirley and Ernie's son, and would go on to become the manager of Great West Newspapers' pre-press operation.
1977
Duff completes university and starts working full-time at the Gazette, where he'd worked part-time since he was a teenager. Duff would spend time as a reporter and editor before becoming publisher and president of the company.
1979
The Gazette becomes a member of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association (AWNA) and the Canadian Community Newspapers Association (CCNA). This was part of a strategy initiated by Duff to raise the paper's journalistic standards and turn it into the best community newspaper in the province and the country. Awards recognizing the Gazette as the best community newspaper in Alberta and then Canada followed shortly.
1979
Mary Jamison, Shirley and Ernie's daughter, joins the company. Mary would spend more than 30 years as Gazette's advertising manager. She's now retired.
1980
The Gazette buys a used press, which allows the paper to do its own printing. At the same time, the Gazette forms a new commercial printing operation under the company name Gazette Press, located in Campbell Business Park. Today, the printing business has grown into an around-the-clock operation.
1981
The Gazette moves its office operations from Perron Street to its location in Campbell Business Park.
Early to mid-1980s
The Gazette splits its rural coverage into a separate paper — the Morinville Gazette — focused specifically on Morinville and Sturgeon County. The Gazette also produces a product called Homestyle, which focuses on real estate, home building, design and décor.
1985
A Cardiff resident named Sue Gawlak joins the paper as a guest contributor to the Morinville Gazette, writing columns about community events like bake sales, dances and softball games. The quality of Gawlak's reporting and her passion for issues like politics and education would propel her into a full-time staff position and eventually the editor's chair. She held this position for 18 years, making her the longest-serving editor in the paper's history. Gawlak was also one of the most influential and respected Gazette employees. Gawlak died Aug. 20, 2010, at the age of 59 after a two-year battle with breast cancer.
1988
The second generation of Jamisons take over ownership and management of the business.
The Gazette begins publishing twice week, on Sunday as well as Wednesday.
The Gazette partners with Southam Inc., the media conglomerate that owns a chain of daily newspapers across the country, including the Edmonton Journal and Ottawa Citizen. The partnership sees the Gazette produce the Journal's Neighbours publications, which serve the outlying area around Edmonton. The Gazette also prints the colour comics and eventually the TV Guides for both the Journal and the Calgary Herald.
In late 1988, the Gazette installs a new press that increases its capacity to print colour. Previously, colour was only available on the front, centre and back pages.
1991
Sarah Jamison, daughter to Shirley and Ernie, joins the company. Sarah now heads the human resources department for Great West Newspapers.
1992
The Gazette completes a transition to digital pagination — the process of laying out the way words and photos appear on the page. This switch leaves behind the last remnants of the decades-old process of manually cutting and pasting page elements.
1992
The Gazette's weekend issue moves from Sunday to Saturday.
1995
The Gazette and its partner, Southam Inc., form Great West Newspapers. Prior to this point, the Gazette had added two smaller Northern Alberta newspapers to its holdings. Under the banner of Great West Newspapers, the company begins seriously acquiring community newspapers throughout the province. In 2011, the number of papers under the Great West banner stands at 20, stretching from Okotoks in the south to Lac La Biche in the north.
1996
The Morinville Gazette and the Wednesday edition of the St. Albert Gazette are merged into one regional newspaper. Homestyle is folded into the Saturday edition and all coverage is once again concentrated under the Gazette banner.
1997
The Gazette's partner, Southam Inc., is bought out by Hollinger Inc., which is headed by Conrad Black. A side effect of the acquisition is that the Gazette suddenly finds itself in partnership with the colourful newspaper baron.
2002
The Gazette launches its first website at www.stalbertgazette.com.
2002 to 2004
The Gazette transitions from shooting photos on film to 100 per cent digital, eliminating the need for a darkroom and making photo processing much less time-consuming.
2003
The Gazette ends all use of film when it moves to laser imaging to produce the printing plates used to translate digital newspaper pages to physical printed pages on the press.
2005
The Gazette buys out its partner Hollinger and soon after enters a partnership with Vancouver-based Glacier Media.
The Gazette's parent company, Great West Newspapers, buys land in Campbell Business Park in anticipation of building its own building. Great West Newspapers also buys a new press that's about twice the size of its previous one.
2008
A third generation of the Jamison family joins the Gazette as Evan, son to Duff and Sandy, becomes assistant plant manager.
Spring 2011
Construction of the new Great West headquarters begins at 340 Carleton Dr. in Campbell North Business Park. Gazette and Gazette Press staff are looking forward to a move to the new facility in the spring of 2012.
