The Decatur Daily is a daily newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 serving Decatur

Decatur, Alabama

Decatur is a city in Limestone and Morgan Counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. The city, affectionately known as "The River City", is located in Northern Alabama on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. It is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County...

 and the Tennessee Valley

Tennessee Valley

The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to northwest Georgia and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina...

 in North Alabama

North Alabama

North Alabama is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama, generally considered to include 12 counties: Cherokee, Colbert, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan, and Winston, with a combined population of 958,247, or 20.84% of the state's population as...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. As of September 30, 2006, it had an average daily circulation of 20,824 and a Sunday circulation of 23,840. Along with The Anniston Star

The Anniston Star

The Anniston Star is the daily newspaper serving Anniston, Alabama, and the surrounding six-county region. Average Sunday circulation in September 2004 was 26,747. The newspaper is locally-owned by Consolidated Publishing Company, which is controlled by the descendants of Col. Harry M. Ayers, one...

, it is one of only two family-owned daily newspapers remaining in Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

.

History

For over 90 years, The Decatur Daily has played a major role in the economic and community development of the Tennessee Valley. It was first published on February 26, 1912 under the banner of The Decaturs Daily, serving the towns of Decatur and New Decatur. After 1916, when New Decatur was renamed Albany, the paper was called The Albany-Decatur Daily. When the two towns were consolidated in 1927, it assumed its present title.

The newspaper is published by the Tennessee Valley Printing Co., Inc., formed in 1911. William R. Shelton was the primary owner and first publisher. He served in this capacity until his death in 1924, and was succeeded by his son Barrett C. Shelton, Sr. Barrett C. Shelton, Jr. has been publisher since 1984, and Barrett C. "Clint" Shelton III today serves as general manager.

On April 1, 2009, The Tennessee Valley Printing Company purchased the TimesDaily

TimesDaily

The TimesDaily is the daily newspaper for Florence, Alabama. The TimesDaily covers a four-county region in Alabama including Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, and Lawrence counties, as well as portions of southern Tennessee and northeast Mississippi...

newspaper in Florence, Alabama, from the New York Times Regional News Group.