The Lancaster Journal, was founded on June 17, 1794 by William Hamilton and Henry Wilcocks as a 4-page, weekly newspaper.

[2] In 1800, Hamilton politically aligned the Journal with the Federalists after buying out Wilcocks and receiving backing from Robert Coleman.

In 1799, William Dickson founded a rival paper, the Jeffersonian Lancaster Intelligencer and Weekly Advertiser.

In January 1820, Hamilton was succeeded by John Huss and Henry Brenner, who worked on the Journal from its inception.

[3] In July 1820, John Reynolds (father of the Civil War general) succeeded Huss and Brenner and turned the Journal into a Jacksonian paper.

[2] The Steinmans then built a new five-story building for the paper on West King Street to show that "they were here to stay".

In 1951, George W. Luttenberger, a local bandleader, musician, and composer, wrote the "Intelligencer Journal March.