All You Need to Commercial Dispatch

The Commercial Dispatch is a daily newspaper published in Columbus, Mississippi, in the United States. A merger of the Commercial and the Dispatch led to its creation in the early 20th century. On March 12, 1922, the first issue of the consolidated newspaper was published. Six days a week (no edition is published on Saturday) at the company’s headquarters, The Dispatch is printed on a Goss Urbanite press. The paper has been owned by the Imes family for four generations; it has been a community mainstay for generations. Editor and publisher of the magazine is Peter Imes.

As early as 1925, Imes moved the newspaper to its present location at 516 Main Street. It became a daily paper in 1926.

Vinton Birney Imes Jr. took over as editor and publisher after his father died on June 18, 1947 at the age of 58. For nearly 50 years, Birney Imes Jr. served as editor and publisher. Following his father’s retirement in 1996, Birney Imes III assumed leadership of the Dispatch.

The Commercial Dispatch operated WCBI-TV, the CBS affiliate for north Mississippi, from 1956 to 2004.

As of June 8, 2009, The Commercial Dispatch began publishing The Starkville Dispatch, a daily edition focusing on Starkville, Mississippi. Despite sharing the bulk of content, including all advertising, The Starkville Dispatch’s local news pages tend to be more local.

Taking over the title of editor-publisher of The Commercial Dispatch from his great-grandfather became the fourth member of his family to hold the position in January 2018.