1827-1828.
It appears that the first newspaper ever published in St. Clair County was called the Western News. This was published by Dr. Joseph Green in Belleville, and appeared for the first time in the winter of 1827-28. It was a small sheet of nondescript character. Nominally it was a weekly; really it was issued only occasionally.
(From the History of St. Clair County, Illinois by Brink, McDonough & Co. 1881).
