Co-Publishers Ron and Anne Loesch show off some of the 40 bound volumes of the Petersburg Pilot along with the first edition of the paper. February 6, 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the newspaper that was started by Jamie Bryson who was the publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel at the time. In 1975 Von Braschler purchased the paper and in July 1976 sold it to Loesch.
Over a period of 60 years, Petersburg has had four weekly newspapers, one of which operated under two different names. The Petersburg Pilot is the fifth paper and was founded on February 8, 1974.
Newspaper history in Petersburg began on January 18, 1913 with the appearance of The Progressive, "published every Saturday" by J.E. Rivard and J. Frederick Johnson. Rivard was editor.
The Progressive survived only a year.
Johnson's name last appeared on the masthead on March 8, 1913 and the paper's last issue in Petersburg was on Sept. 26, 1914. Editor Rivard announced laconically that, "we can't mak...
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