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Ocala StarBanner history
Ocala StarBanner company history timeline
The East Florida Banner was sold to George W. Wilson in 1881 and was renamed The Florida Banner-Lacon when it merged with The Florida Lacon.
In 1890, The Ocala Banner became a daily newspaper.
Situated in rural Marion County, the Ocala Banner covered farming, business, and civic issues in Ocala, where the Freeze of 1895 had devastated the citrus industry and paved the way for diversified agriculture and the growth of tourism.
Beginning in 1897, it also appeared in a weekly edition, the Ocala Weekly Star.
The Ocala Star-Banner was combined into one publication on 1 September 1943, and has remained the daily newspaper in Marion County since that time.
Formerly the site of Rosemere Horse Farm, the Paddock Mall opened in August 1980, with 58 stores, to a throng of thousands of eager shoppers.
Citrus growers were hard hit by extreme cold in January and February of 1981; temperatures dipped to 11 degrees.
In March of 1981, the Marion County School Board approved a controversial new tax that required property owners to pay an additional $2 per $1,000 of taxable value for construction of new classrooms to ease overcrowding.
Sixteen inches of rain in a 72-hour period over Easter weekend in April 1982 effectively ended a dry spell in the city and caused massive flooding in the Heritage Hills and Fisher Park sections of northeast Ocala, resulting in millions of dollars in damage.
In September 1982, three of Belleview's four drinking wells were discovered to be contaminated with gasoline from a leaking service station.
A district appeals court revoked the Marion County school board's approval of the special tax in 1982.
Marion Countians continued to wonder if it was safe to drink the water when contamination from gasoline and pesticides used in citrus groves was found in dozens of wells around the county in 1983.
Marion's past won a victory in January 1984, when preservationists won designation of a 55-block area of southeast Ocala as a historic district.
ABC decided to get out of the theme park business and in April 1984 concluded the sale of several parks, including Silver Springs, to a group of employees who formed Florida Leisure Attractions.
The execution-style murders of a couple at an Irvine antique store shocked the county in June 1984.
A federal lawsuit filed in 1984 by the NAACP and three Ocala blacks said city hall spent a disproportionate amount of money to improve white neighborhoods while black sections in west Ocala deteriorated.
When the fires were finally quenched in May 1985, acres of charred, blackened stumps bore testimony to the destructive power of a series of forest fires that swept through parts of the Ocala National Forest.
After years of legal wrangling, county school officials in June 1985 reluctantly returned almost $5 million in illegally collected taxes to county property owners.
Hurricane Elena dithered in the Gulf for days in 1985 before parking off of Cedar Key and spewing high winds and heavy rains across the Big Sun, including Marion County.
By 1985, county commissioners wrestled with unpleasant garbage problems, including continued delays by Urban Waste to build a promised garbage-to-energy conversion plant at the Baseline landfill.
In November 1986, a federal judge found that Ocala city officials had discriminated against black neighborhoods in providing services and public improvements.
Indictments were returned in December 1986 by a statewide grand jury looking into corruption in the garbage disposal business against seven officials of Urban Waste.
After a year of planning, a year-round school schedule began at Wyomina Park Elementary in July 1987.
In October 1988, the Ocala Civic Theatre opened a new, 400-seat facility in the Appleton Complex.
Ocala favorite son Buddy MacKay gave up his congressional seat to run for the United States Senate in 1988, only to be defeated in a close November election by a congressional colleague, Republican Connie Mack.
The industry was all but wiped out in Marion when another killing freeze hit during December 1989.
In 1989, the park was sold to Memphis businessman Jim Schorr as part of a $43 million deal.
Two of the county's largest natural springs went on the block in 1989.
In November 1990, the 351st Military Police Company of Ocala boarded a Northwest Airlines Boeing 747 and made the global trek to join other United States forces stationed in Saudi Arabia.
Election coverage dominated the news in 1990, as former United States Senator Lawton Chiles walked out of retirement to defeat Republican Gov.
Sale of Rainbow Springs to the state for $5.1 million closed in 1990.
When war broke out in January 1991, the Big Sun lost a soldier, Daniel Byron Walker of Dunnellon.
In late May 1991, Danny Rolling was named the top suspect in the grisly Gainesville student murders.
On July 14, 1991, the bullet-riddled body of 40-year-old Betty Anne Smolka of Virginia Beach was discovered in a field north of United States 27.
The First Baptist Church burned in October 1991, and its more than 3,000 members began meeting elsewhere.
A 168,000 square-foot expansion of Paddock mall opened in early 1991, spotlighted by Sears as the mall's fourth anchor.
Many Ocalans were saddened in 1991 by the sudden death of 87-year-old Bernard Castro, founder of the nationally known Castro Convertibles.
Don Moreland ended a 20-year career as Marion County Sheriff in 1992, when voters picked his protege, Ken Ergle, to replace him.
Marion County decided to throw in the towel in 1993 -- officially ending the program in June.
20, 1993, Silver Springs became the state's newest park.
In October 1994, Martin Marietta Electronics and Missiles asked Ocala for and got a $2.5 million city subsidy for five years.
The city was named an All America City earlier in the year, moved up in the national rankings from 78th place in 1994.
Former Ocala Mayor Henry Speight resigned from office April 21, 1995, three weeks after he was suspended by Gov.
7, 1995, south Marion County residents awoke to the sounds of destruction.
Florida's horse industry was raised to a new level in 1995 when local breeders claimed the top honors in both harness racing and thoroughbred racing for the first time in a single year.
A New York-based corporation took over the running of the attraction in March 1996, when Ogden Corp. bought the lease to operate Silver Springs Attraction and Wild Waters.
Julius James, a 110-year-old Sparr native, gained national attention in the summer of 1996, when I-75 expansion forced him off his homestead on County Road 326.
The School Board approved a $5 million plan to end the suit in 1996.
Eli Witt announced it was transferring its headquarters from Tampa to Ocala in 1996.
In September 1997, a 1/2-cent sales tax increase to pay for a bond issue to use for a school building program was defeated.
Silver Charm carried on Marion's horse history in 1997, capturing the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, then finishing second in the Belmont Stakes.
Halifax Media Group acquired the paper in 2012.
In 2015, Halifax was acquired by New Media Investment Group.
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Ocala StarBanner competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ledger | 1924 | $55.8M | 200 | 1 |
| Nevada Appeal | 1865 | $1.7M | 26 | - |
| Los Angeles Times | 1881 | $780.0M | 2,052 | 3 |
| Observer-Reporter | 1808 | $10.0M | 350 | - |
| Warrick News | 1875 | $160.0M | 731 | - |
| The Gainesville Sun | 1876 | $8.3M | 108 | 14 |
| Epic Theatre Ensemble | 2001 | $999,999 | 50 | - |
| Sarasota Herald-Tribune | 1925 | $160.0M | 740 | - |
| BroadwayWorld | 2003 | $18.0M | 225 | - |
| Dancing Astronaut | 2011 | $5.0M | 30 | - |
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Ocala StarBanner may also be known as or be related to Ocala, Ocala Star-Banner, Ocala Star-banner and Ocala StarBanner.