Just as the world has changed in incalculable ways over the past 130 years, so has the Bangor Daily News. It’s gone from an upstart young newspaper in the era of lumber barons and horse-drawn wagons, to a printing powerhouse covering two-thirds of the state, to a digitally focused publication with reporters stationed in nearly every corner of Maine. Here’s a brief history of the BDN, from humble beginnings to today’s digital era. File | BDN File | BDN The first edition of the Bangor Daily News, published on June 18, 1889. 1889-1895: Beginnings In 1889, the Bangor Daily News printed its first edition on June 18.