Post-Gazette chronicled

Clarke M. Thomas knows quite a bit about Pittsburgh. He knows even more about its oldest… Clarke M. Thomas knows quite a bit about Pittsburgh. He knows even more about its oldest newspaper.

Thomas, who arrived at the The Book Center early Thursday afternoon, talked at length about his new book, “Front-Page Pittsburgh: Two Hundred Years of the Post-Gazette.”

Thomas worked in the newspaper business for 43 years in places such as Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Pennsylvania. After his retirement from the business in 1991, the Post-Gazette commissioned him to write a book chronicling the history of the newspaper.

“This book is a history of Pittsburgh as seen through the eyes of the Post-Gazette,” he said, stating the underlying theme of his work.

The 315-page book, Thomas’ first attempt at novel writing, starts with a story about the first issue of the nearly 220-year-old newspaper that eventually became the last paper standing in Pittsburgh after the 1992 labor strike.

The date was August 12, 1786: one year before the Constitution even existed and at a time when Pittsburgh was merely a small village of about 300 people. The first edition, which came out on a Saturday and featured a front page composed almost entirely of advertisements, was officially the first paper west of the Allegheny Mountains.

The book also discusses the founders of the Post-Gazette, among them lawyer Hugh Henry Brackenridge, while telling interesting stories about the people most influential to the publication.

Thomas told of an incident that occurred over two centuries ago, when Mr. Brackenridge was rumored to have ridden a horse into town completely naked, claiming that “he put his clothes underneath the saddle to keep them dry.”

Thomas tirelessly conducted research for this project, which in full took about four-and-a-half years to complete. He spent many nights in libraries, scanning microfilms of copies of the Post-Gazette from long ago. Since there was an overwhelming amount of information to contend with, Mr. Thomas explained that the book would have easily been much longer if the editors hadn’t cut a lot out.

The book reviews critical periods of history not only for Pittsburgh, but for the entire country. Issues ranging from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the eventual merger of the Post and the Gazette in 1927 all have chapters devoted to them.

Aside from the book signings and historical discussions, Mr. Thomas took as much time to talk to supporters as they took to talk to him.

Although the book is a novel, Thomas said he still retains his instincts as a reporter.

“I still try to write in a journalistic fashion and not an academic fashion,” he said, smiling.