Standard Gravure
Printing company in Kentucky, US (1922–1992)
title: "Standard Gravure" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["defunct-companies-based-in-louisville,-kentucky", "printing-companies-of-the-united-states", "mass-media-companies-established-in-1922", "mass-media-companies-disestablished-in-1992", "1922-establishments-in-kentucky", "1992-disestablishments-in-kentucky", "courier-journal"] description: "Printing company in Kentucky, US (1922–1992)" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Gravure" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Printing company in Kentucky, US (1922–1992) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| industry | Printing |
| founded | 1922 |
| founder | Robert Worth Bingham |
| defunct | 1992 |
| hq_location | Louisville, Kentucky |
| :: |
| industry = Printing | founded = 1922 | founder = Robert Worth Bingham | defunct = 1992 | hq_location = Louisville, Kentucky Standard Gravure was a Louisville, Kentucky rotogravure printing company founded in 1922 by Robert Worth Bingham and owned by the Bingham family. For decades, it printed the weekly The Courier-Journal as well as rotogravure sections for other newspapers as well as Parade.
By the 1980s, a shrinking print market had reduced revenues, and an employee wage freeze was instituted by then President William E. Bockmon in 1982.
In 1986, Bingham family patriarch Barry Bingham Sr. announced the family would sell all their media holdings including Standard Gravure. The employees of Standard Gravure made a bid to buy the company, but it was sold instead to Michael Shea from Atlanta, Georgia for $22 million. In the same year, the family sold The Louisville Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times for $305 million to the Gannett Company. After the sale the employees learned that $11 million of their employee pension fund had been used to help finance Shea's purchase. The company had 531 employees at two plants at the time of the sale.
On September 14, 1989, Standard Gravure came to national attention when Joseph T. Wesbecker, an employee on disability leave, entered the plant with several firearms and fired at employees for thirty minutes, injuring twelve and killing nine, including himself.
Standard Gravure closed in February 1992, after two serious fires. The building at 6th and Broadway and part of the Courier-Journal complex, was demolished and became a parking lot.
References
References
- Jones, Alex S.. (20 May 1986). "GANNETT GETS LOUISVILLE PAPERS FOR 300 MILLION". [[The New York Times]].
- Wines, Michael. (1986-01-19). "The Binghams of Louisville : Family Tragedy and Feuds Bring Down Media Empire".
- (2 June 1986). "Binghams Sell A TV Station".
- (27 May 1986). "Binghams Sell Another Unit". [[The New York Times]].
- Peterson, Erica. (27 August 2018). "A Bingham Buys A Newspaper: The Life And Legacy Of Robert Worth Bingham".
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=nqrjeYwa7foC&dq=standard+Gravure+-shooting&pg=PA180 Prozac backlash: overcoming the dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and other antidepressants with safe, effective alternatives], p. 179.
- (2023-04-10). "Bank shooting in Louisville brings memories of 1989 mass shooting at Standard Gravure".
- (2023-04-16). "One of America's first workplace shootings had an unlikely suspect: Prozac". Washington Post.
- (2019-09-12). "Standard Gravure remembered: Here are all the victims from the 1989 mass shooting".
- (2013-09-19). "Painful Parallels Between Mass Shootings at Navy Yard and Standard Gravure in Louisville".
- Kelly, Adrianne. (2019-09-14). "This Day in History: 8 killed, 12 wounded in Standard Gravure shooting".
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