The Herald Announces it is Moving to Memorial Park

We're packing our bags! The Herald office is relocating to the Morrisons Cove Memorial Park building. The office will be located at 209 S. Walnut St., Martinsburg. Our new office will be to the left of the library if you're looking at the park building from South Walnut Street.

The Herald is making the move on May 19 and 20 and will begin offering services at the new location at the park on May 23. The office on North Market Street will be closed starting May 19. We hope to have completed our move to the new location by June 1.

A lot of factors influenced the staff's decision to move. The new location will allow the Herald to be in a community hub, literally connected to the park and the Martinsburg Community Library.

The Herald building on North Market Street has much more space than our staff requires. The new office will provide the Herald with a more efficient use of space and help us control expenses.

While we know this will be an adjustment for customers, the Herald wants to make the transition as easy as possible.

We will be installing a drop box at the new location for those who want to drop off payments after hours or do not want to walk up the sidewalk to the new office. The drop box will be installed at the end of the sidewalk that extends from the park building to South Walnut Street, making it convenient for customers to drop off payments, letters and other items. The drop box is not yet installed but will be soon.

Customers can make use of the ample spaces in the park's parking lot or use the street parking on South Walnut Street.

The Herald's new office will be clearly marked, with its name on the door and the blue canopy over the office.

Closed for the move

The Herald office will be closed May 19 and 20 to get the move done, but after that, there will be few changes. The Herald is not changing its owners, its publication schedule or its relationship with subscribers and advertisers. Our office hours, phone numbers and email addresses will all remain as they are now. The only difference when the Herald office opens on May 23 will be its location.

113 N. Market Street

The Herald building on North Market Street has served the community newspaper and its customers well for decades, but the Herald's needs are changing. The larger building used to house not just the Herald offices but also a large newspaper printing press and an entire job print shop. The Herald's staff used to be larger, too.

Changes in technology have dramatically reduced the number of people and the amount of equipment needed to produce a newspaper. For example, digital photography has eliminated the need for a darkroom. The Herald's 97-square-foot darkroom still exists, complete with a red light, but it is now used for storage.

Modern printing presses are large, complex, expensive devices. The Herald newspaper has not been printed at the Herald's offices since the 1960s. Since then, the Herald has been printed at other newspapers, including the Bedford Gazette facility. The Herald is currently printed at the Altoona Mirror.

The Herald building on North Market Street has three apartments in it and that will not change. The Herald's owners are considering what to do with the part of the building that will be unused. One use being considered is converting the entire building into apartments. The Herald welcomes ideas from the community for the use of the space in the building.

The Herald's owners and staff know that this is a big change, but we all think that it is a positive one. The new location allows the Herald to support the Memorial Park, which in a way is the heart of the Cove. It's also one more step in the Herald's continued adaptation to changes in the world of community newspapers.

Please call the Herald office at (814) 793-2144 with any questions, comments or ideas.

Thank you for reading.