In 1871, a Hinds County youth, about 16 years of age, walkedinto The NEWTON LEDGER to apply for a job as an apprentice printerwith little idea at that time that 12 years later he wouldestablish The BROOKHAVEN LEADER which has served as a window onBrookhaven and Lincoln County, as well as surrounding areas, for100 years.

The first issue of The BROOKHAVEN LEADER was published February22, 1883. The paper was published every Thursday morning, thesubscription price $2 per year. B.T. Hobbs said in a notice, “TheLEADER will be Democratic, but not to an extreme and offensivedegree, and will never contain anything that cannot be read withpropriety around the fireside.”

In 1958 The LEADER was sold by Dalton Brady to Charles R. Jacobs who had moved to Brookhaven from Florida and had formerly published prize-winning weeklies in Ohio and New Hampshire. Mr. Jacobs began a career in the newspaper business following World War II in 1946and is now observing his 37th year as a newspaper publisher with the youngest of his three sons, William O. (Bill) Jacobs assuming the position of managing editor of The Daily LEADER in August of 1980.

The final edition of the 85-year-old weekly and semi-weeklyLEADER, being published by Charles R. Jacobs at this time, was printed September 25, 1968. A new chapter in the history ofBrookhaven’s newspapers began on Monday, Sept. 20, 1968 when the first edition of The DAILY LEADER was published. At that timePublisher Jacobs said “Brookhaven has experienced considerable commercial, industrial and population growth in the last 10 years.I have been with the newspaper for those 10 years, and having observed the growth, feel that we want to grow with our city, thus contributing to its further expansion.”

On Sunday, October 6, 1996 The DAILY LEADER added a sixthpublishing day to its schedule with the publication of its firstSunday edition. Citing the continued and projected growth of theBrookhaven area and Southwest Mississippi, Editor and PublisherJacobs proudly announced the milestone in the history of the of thenewspaper in that first Sunday edition.

Local news has been the heart and soul of THE DAILY LEADER sincefirst started in the publishing business. And with that firstissue, THE DAILY LEADER staff has worked diligently to bring thereaders of Lincoln, Lawrence, Copiah, and Franklin counties withthe finest in local news and information.

In June of 2000 The DAILY LEADER entered the Internet age withits online edition named DAILY LEADER ONLINE. The newspaper nowbecame available around the world and averaged over 40,000 monthlyhits in its first new months of publication. The World Wide Web isalways changing and so is the site. Readers will find powerfulInternet classifieds, online yellow pages and hundreds of pages ofgreat editorial content. So whether readers are buying a car,looking for their future home, changing jobs or searching for thelatest community news, the journey starts here.