The Gazette

Serving those who serve

The Gazette serves Colorado Springs, the largest city in El Paso County, Colorado, the home of the United States Air Force Academy.

In 1872, the newspaper, then named Out West failed to catch on. The following year, it successfully rebranded itself the Colorado Springs Gazette.

By 1946, the Gazette merged with the Evening Telegraph forming the Gazette-Telegraph. That same year, Freedom Newspapers took ownership.

In December 1955, the Gazette printed a holiday ad with a telephone number to talk to Santa Claus. Whether the number in the ad was misprinted or a child misdialed it is not now known. But, a young girl, hoping to speak to Santa, reached Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). The commander, sensing this as good for public relations, asked the staff to play along if any more calls came in. Eventually, CONAD made public Santa-tracking reports every December 24th. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), successor to CONAD, continues the tradition to the present day.

The Gazette received Pulitzer Prizes in 1990, for feature writing on a home explosion, and in 2014, for its coverage of wounded war veterans and their mistreatment by the U.S. government.

In 2012, Clarity Media, a unit of Anschutz Corporation, acquired the Gazette.