Milestones we can be proud of…

1875
An English bookkeeper, Frank Wootten, buys the Church Herald and renames it Dominion Churchman. An annual subscription to the weekly publication costs $2.

1890
The Rev. William Clarke, a professor at Toronto’s Trinity College, becomes editor.
The publication is renamed Canadian Churchman.
Wootten keeps proprietorship.

1912
Wootten dies and a group of evangelical Anglicans forms a holding company to purchase the Canadian Churchman. For the next 10 years, it is associated with Wycliffe College in Toronto.

1926
Clara McIntyre succeeds her late husband, the Rev. E.A. McIntyre, to become the first female editor of the Churchman, a position she holds until 1944. Readers are unaware of her gender.

1948
The Anglican Church of Canada’s General Board of Religious Education takes over as publisher. Circulation is about 5,000.

1957
A recommendation is made to the church’s executive to combine all the church’s periodicals into one monthly publication.

1959
The new Canadian Churchman is launched under the editorship of a young priest from the diocese of Huron, Canon Gordon Baker. The January issue is printed with the publications of a half-dozen dioceses. Circulation climbs to 65,000.

1959
A new distribution concept benefiting dioceses and the national church is forged. All identifiable givers to the church receive the newspaper along with their diocesan publication. Circulation explodes to more than 200,000.

1968
Hugh McCullum, a well-respected journalist and activist, is the first editor to hire professional reporters rather than clergy to produce stories on poverty, Aboriginal land claims, pollution, abortion law reform and apartheid.

1975
In the paper’s centennial year, journalist Jerry Hames, succeeds Hugh McCullum, and continues the award-winning news coverage. Hames later de-camps to New York, where he becomes editor of Episcopal Life.

1977
The newspaper’s editorial policy is revised. The Canadian Churchman remains the national newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada. Its position as an independent voice, rather than the official voice of the church, is made clear.

1989
The Canadian Churchman changes its name to the Anglican Journal/Journal Episcopal to reflect anglophone and francophone membership. A year later, the newspaper’s name is changed to the Anglican Journal.Journalist Carolyn Purden succeeds Hames as editor and general manager.

1994
The annual Anglican Journal Appeal is launched, setting the stage for philanthropic co-operation between the Journal and 22 diocesan papers. Proceeds are shared. The Appeal becomes an integral part of the Journal‘s operational success.

1998
The newspaper launches a website, anglicanjournal.com. It allows Anglicans to access breaking news stories as well as in-depth coverage of issues online.

2000
“Sins of the Fathers,” a 16-page supplement detailing the residential schools issue, receives numerous awards.

2002
As concern mounts about financial fallout from Indian residential school litigation, the Anglican Journal becomes a separately incorporated body.

2005
Readers mark the 130th anniversary of the Journal by contributing more than $638,000 to the Journal Appeal, the highest amount raised since 1994. A number of readers send cheques for $130 to celebrate.

2006
The federal government extends the postal subsidy that makes it possible for the Anglican Journal and the diocesan newspaper network of 22 regional publications to be mailed at a deep discount. Without the postal subsidy, the cost would quadruple.

2010
A re-design of the Anglican Journal, the first in a decade, is launched with the April issue, offering a bold, new, reader-friendly look. The Anglican Journal launches a new interactive website in time to provide daily online news and analysis at General Synod 2010 in Halifax.