The Journal was established in 1897 by Colvin Card[2] as an independent eight-column four page weekly,[3] published on Saturdays.
[7] In 1940, it was purchased by New Yorkers Elizabeth Ann and Stewart Hoskins, who bought the Journal, and remade it as a 'cozy hometown paper' focused on local news.
[11] Finally, in 1971, the Journal was bought by Robert Estabrook, a former foreign correspondent and editor for the Washington Post,[12] and his wife.
Under Estabrook's leadership, the paper adopted more hard-hitting approach, seen most clearly in its reporting and advocacy around the 1973 Peter Reilly case.
The persistence and quality of The Lakeville Journal's reporting and editorials on the case was seen as crucial in the eventual discovery of exculpatory evidence.
[15] was the co-publisher and co-owner, along with Robert Hatch who had previously worked with the Children's Television Workshop, of The Lakeville Journal and the Millerton News of New York from 1986-1991.
Hatch sold the papers to an LLC board including A. Whitney Ellsworth, Robert Estabrook, Albert Gottesman and William E. Little, Jr. in 1995.