Odessa American


The Odessa American is a newspaper based in Odessa, Texas, that serves Odessa as well as the rest of Ector County.
The newspaper has daily editions and Sunday/Thanksgiving Day editions.
The paper is particularly notable for its Pulitzer Prize winning picture of Baby Jessica McClure when she was rescued from her well in neighboring Midland, Texas.
The American was owned by Freedom Communications until 2012, when Freedom papers in Texas were sold to AIM Media Texas.

History

In 1895, William C. "Uncle Billy" Griffin came to Odessa from Midland and began publishing Ector County's first newspaper the Odessa "Weekly News."
The "Weekly News" lasted only one year, and was followed by six other short-lived weekly publication until August 1927, when production of Odessa "Times" and Odessa "News" began. In October 1928, the two-weekly papers were merged as the Odessa "News-Times."
The towns of Penwell and Goldsmith supported, for a short time during oil boom of the 1930s, the only Ector County newspaper known to have been published outside Odessa.
The first daily newspaper, The "Daily Bulletin" began in 1936, and the "New-Times" followed in 1937. On Oct. 2, 1940 R. Henderson Shuffler consolidated the "Daily Bulletin" and the "News-Times" into The "Odessa American," which he sold on Aug. 11, 1945.
Ownership of the Newspaper changed twice before Aug. 13, 1948, when it was purchased by Raymond C. Hoiles of Freedom Newspapers Inc.
That company, which later became Freedom Communications, sold the Odessa American along with its other Texas properties to AIM Media Texas, LLC, on May 18, 2012.
The Odessa American has withstood brief competition from five newspapers since its first publication and has been published at 222 E. Fourth St. since 1951.
On Nov. 30, 2018, the Odessa American moved to new, more modern offices located at 4001 E. 42nd St., Suite 200, in Odessa.
On Aug. 30, 2019, the Odessa American moved back to downtown Odessa to 700 N. Grant Ave., Suite 800, in the Bank of America building.