Charles Henry Gere, founder of the Nebraska State Journal, received his education in Pennsylvania, studied law in Baltimore, Maryland, and served in the Civil War before coming to Nebraska in l865. The New York native soon became a partner of David Butler in a law office in Pawnee City. When Butler became the state's first governor in l967, Gere served as his private secretary.
Gere was a member of the first state legislature, which met in Omaha in l866, and served in the state senate 1869-70 and 1881-82. As a member of the education committee, he introduced a bill which founded the state university, and beginning in 1881, he was a member of the Board of Regents, serving as its president for ten years. Gere influenced the passage of legislation which helped establish and maintain free public libraries in Nebraska.
Gere was a member of the committee on railroads, which sponsored a bill appropriating money for railroads within the state. Two years later, sections of four railroad systems were being built, with Lincoln on each one's route. Gere served on the railroad commission soon after its founding in the 1880s. In 1875 Gere served as a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention.
Gere founded Lincoln's first newspaper, The Nebraska Commonwealth (later named the Nebraska State Journal) in l867. Gere had served as county prosecuting attorney at Pawnee City and as county attorney for Lancaster County. When the State Journal became a daily in 1870, Gere left the practice of law and became more actively involved in the newspaper. He was responsible for the controversial editorial position of the State Journal, taking a stand against the Farmer's Alliance and its candidates. Gere was president of the State Journal Company from 1872 until his death in Lincoln on September 30, 1904.