Today’s edition will commemorate the 250th anniversary of our country. It includes a special 32-page section that highlights the history of the Juniata Valley, Pennsylvania and our country.

While today’s publication will be delivered to subscribers, extra souvenir copies will be available at local stores and at our 21 South Brown Street office-while they last. Our office will be closed today and will reopen at 8:00 a.m. Monday.

As we reflect on our country’s history, it is a good time to look back at The Sentinel’s history, as The Sentinel, or some form of it, has chronicled life in the area for many years. Although established as a daily on Oct. 10, 1903, the life story of The Sentinel can be traced into the depths of Mifflin County History, even back to the pioneer years of the mid-19th century.

On Aug. 11, 1832, there appeared on the streets of Lewistown, the first issue of the Lewistown Republican, which is the great-grandfather of today’s newspaper. It continued under the same name until January 1, 1845, when it changed to The True Democrat.

The True Democrat was the weekly that was the foundation to the daily newspaper of today. It was in the summer of 1879 that Henry J. Fosnot came to town as the associate editor of The True Democrat. In that same year, Fosnot purchased The True Democrat and another borough weekly, the Democrat and Sentinel.

In 1899, Fosnot moved to publishing twice a week. Then, in 1903, he founded The Daily Sentinel.

For some years, Fosnot published both The Daily Sentinel and the semi-weekly Democrat and Sentinel eventually allowing the latter to disappear.

By 1920, Fosnot was joined in the business by his son, Walter. On Nov. 20, of that same year, a stock company under the title of The Sentinel Company took ownership control due to the elder Fosnot’s failing health. Henry Fosnot died on May 5, 1922, but his newspaper was in the capable hands of Walter Fosnot, the president and general manager, and Meredith Meyers, the editor. They continued as the principals until their respective deaths, Meyers in the late 1940’s and Walter Fosnot in 1950.

With the passing of Walter Fosnot, C.V. Rowland, who had been an employee in the advertising department, became the general manager.

The next major change in ownership occurred in 1971 when ownership of the newspaper was acquired by Bucker News Alliance and in Feb. of the following year, the operation was moved from the location it had occupied on Dorcas Street since 1910-currently the Salvation Army building, to a new building in Highland Park.

On Oct. 1, 1993, Ogden Newspapers Inc., of Wheeling, West Virginia purchased The Sentinel. Ogden Newspapers is a fourth generation, family-owned newspaper group. Ogden Newspapers was founded in 1890 by H.C. Ogden is owned by his descendants, the Nutting family. They own over 50 daily newspapers across the country-stretching from New York to Hawaii.

On Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, the operation moved back to the downtown and began operating from 21 S. Brown Street-across the parking lot from its Dorcas Street location.

There have been many major changes in the way the news is accumulated, processed, printed and delivered over those many years. Readers can now access us on their phone, tablet or computer. Yet, our mission remains to be the dominant disseminator of news and information for our area.