The Sentinel

General information

The Sentinel is the news and information leader in Carlisle and Cumberland County and delivers award winning news, sports, community information and local advertising on multiple platforms.
The Sentinel began in Shippensburg, Pa., as “The Valley Sentinel” on April 22, 1861. The Valley Sentinel continued to publish a weekly newspaper throughout the Civil War and then entered a period of instability, enduring frequent ownership changes and even bankruptcy.
In 1874, the newspaper moved from Shippensburg to Carlisle, where it struggled to make a name for itself in the face of already established competition. The Sentinel eventually flourished and acquired a building of its own in downtown Carlisle.
In 1884, an 85-year dynasty began as the Thompson family took control of The Sentinel in the midst of a battle for supremacy with The Carlisle Herald. The newspaper moved its operation to its current location at East North Street in Carlisle in 1953. The ownership for the Thompson family drew to a close and finally ended with the sale of the newspaper to Howard Publications in May of 1968.
The Sentinel entered cyberspace early with the launch of cumberlink.com in July 1995.
Lee Enterprises, a leading publisher of small and mid-sized newspapers based in Davenport, Iowa, purchased the newspaper in 2002 along with 15 other Howard Publications newspapers.
Today, 155 years later, the accomplishments of The Sentinel through the years are reflected in the esteem with which it is held by its readers, its circulation and advertising acceptance and in its community leadership.
The Sentinel is a member of the Greater Carlisle, Mechanicsburg, Shippensburg and West Shore chambers of commerce, as well as being a Founders level member of the Cumberland Valley Alliance.
The Sentinel print edition features a circulation of approximately 9,000 and publishes Monday through Saturday. In addition to the core product, The Sentinel also publishes two weekly products – The Shippensburg Sentinel and The Sentinel Select.
In January 2016, The Sentinel launched a monthly business journal, The Cumberland Valley Business Journal, in partnership with the Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation. The monthly publication is mailed to all members of the four area chambers of commerce and CAEDC.
The Sentinel’s website, www.cumberlink.com, delivers around-the-clock information with the help of robust Facebook and Twitter pages. The website alone reaches approximately 400,000 unique visitors who visit about 2 million pages each month.
The Sentinel is proud to be Carlisle and Cumberland County’s local newspaper and online resource for news, sports and advertising. In the past years, The Sentinel has won multiple awards from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association and the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors for its news coverage.
As a community leader, The Sentinel takes its role seriously as a key employer, communication and education leader for Cumberland County and supporter of environmental endeavors to keep our community green and clean.