WSJ to celebrate 125th anniversary on Tuesday

The Wall Street Journal will celebrate its 125^th anniversary on Tuesday.

The paper that began on July 8, 1889, as a four-page newsletter circulated among a few hundred investors for two cents a copy, is now the largest paid circulation newspaper in the United States, with more than 2.2 million subscribers. To commemorate the anniversary, the Journal will publish special content that will appear globally in print and online. The print issue will be packaged with a cover wrap featuring a reprint of the first Wall Street Journal front page, annotated with details of how the newsmakers featured then have fared over the past 125 years.

“In their debut issue, Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser, the paper’s founders, promised that the Journal ‘…would aim steadily at being a paper of news, and not a paper of opinions. It will give a good deal of news not found in other publications, and it will present in the market article, its news, its tables and its advertisements, a faithful picture of the rapidly evolving panorama of the Street,’” said Gerard Baker, editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal, in a statement.

“Today the Journal’s reach is global and its news agenda goes beyond business to cover politics, entertainment, arts and culture and much more. But we remain true to those founding principles: to offer the most accurate, the most intelligent, the most objective account of the news that moves markets, defines history and changes lives.“

A  forward-looking Journal Report, “The Future of Everything,” which will publish in print and online, features more than two dozen essayists sharing their thoughts on the innovations and transformations that will shape the future. Guest writers include:

• Ajay Banga, CEO of MasterCard, on Money
• Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, on Sports
• Angela Benton, Founder and CEO at NewME Accelerator, on Entrepreneurship
• James P. Gorman, Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley, on Global Finance
• Taylor Swift, Singer/Songwriter, on Music
• Alice Waters, Pioneer of the organic and locally grown movements, on Food
• Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, CEO and co-founder of Facebook, on Connectivity

Online the Journal will launch, “WSJ Archive: 125 Years of History,” an interactive online archive that will allow readers to explore the past 125 years of news through the lens of Journal coverage. Featuring archival content, the timeline will be categorized into different eras along with different themes, including: “Big Issues,”  “How We Live,” “Titans,” “Tragedies,” and “Turnarounds.”

The Journal’s Opinion pages will feature a special section celebrating its traditional editorial themes of free people and free markets. This will include a symposium of Journal contributors on how to revive American prosperity and confidence, as well as highlights from 125 years of op-eds and editorials.