Cortland Standard named a New York State historic business

A unique family legacy and a historic business lives on at the Cortland Standard. In operation since 1867, they have been added to the New York State Historic Business Preservation Registry. The Cortland Standard is a daily paper, printing newspapers in-house.

Early risers ensure the Cortland Standard is released, with thousands of issues printed throughout the week for subscribers. It only takes 20-30 minutes to print the paper, but developing the printing plates can take hours. Their printing machine was installed in 1968, with the ability to print color added around 2000. Unlike when the operation began in 1867, readers can pick up the printed page or a computer.

“My great-great-grandfather bought the company in 1876 and we moved into this building in 1883,” said Evan Geibel, as publisher and president at the Cortland Standard he is carrying on the family tradition. He’s the fifth generation to have a fingerprint on the first draft of Cortland’s history. The Cortland Standard started as a weekly paper and eventually transformed into a daily edition.

“Part of the thing that I feel really makes us still just very much a daily newspaper. We’re printing here on Main Street, we’re distributing here on Main Street, our reporters are working on Main Street, it’s as Cortland as you get,” said Geibel.

In more than 150 years, there’s only one day unaccounted for.

“There was a horrible storm in June of 1986. We lost power here, but the roads were impassable anyway, so we weren’t able to get the edition out. But the very next day we issued a special double sized edition,” said Geibel.

From their newsroom, journalists cover five counties of Central New York.

“Everyone here has a connection to what we do and understands that the community relies on the information that we provide,” said Geibel.

Branching out beyond the page, the Standard recently started a news podcast.

“When a lot of news organizations have been cutting editorial staff, the people who generate the content that is most useful to our readers, we have done our very best to hold the line and to even produce more,” said Geibel.

For their enduring presence in the state, they are now part of New York State’s Historic Business Preservation Registry. Businesses on the historic business preservation registry must have been in operation for at least 50 years and have contributed to the community’s history. Nominees are selected by state elected officials.

“Exceedingly rare these days. We are the second oldest independently owned and operated newspaper in New York State,” said Geibel. “So it’s quite an honor and we’re very happy about it.”

While the news they print today is a little different from their very first edition, the long history of the paper remains literally etched in the walls. At this point it’s fair to say the true standard in Cortland, is having local news, delivered daily.

“Just amazing to think of the thousands of people who’ve worked here, the hundreds of thousands of stories we’ve told and just generations of people in Cortland. Living and dying and succeeding and failing and trying and occasionally driving drunk. And they all wound up in the pages of the Cortland Standard,” said Geibel.

From the newsroom to the mailroom, it takes 25 people to bring an edition of the Cortland Standard to the community, and editions are delivered through the USPS. The paper continues to have print subscribers outnumbering their digital subscribers.

According to usnewsdeserts.com, Cortland is one of 13 counties in New York with a single newspaper, and Orleans County has no local newspaper.