Father Gabriel Richard came to Detroit in 1798 as assistant pastor of Ste.
Anne's Church. In 1809, he brought a printing press and type to Detroit from
Baltimore. James M. Miller came from Baltimore to be the printer. Fr. Richard
was the editor. The first issue of The Michigan Essay or Impartial Observer
was published in French on August 31, 1809. We do not know how many issues were
published. (Image of Fr. Richard: Archives of Michigan)
In 1817, John P. Sheldon and Ebenezer Reed began publishing a newspaper
called the Detroit Gazette. Pages each had four columns and were smaller
than today's pages. All the stories were printed in English on the first three
pages. The most important stories were also printed in French on page four.
The Gazette went out of business when its office burned in 1830. By
then, there were enough other newspapers in Michigan to make sure that Michigan
would always have a newspaper.
