George Fleming and his son Orville began printing the Red Deer Echo in 1901. By 1902 the Red Deer Board of Trade were dissatisfied with the service of the Echo and requested the Flemings improve their publication or give the option to purchase the plant. The Flemings soon leased their premises and printing press Oliver A. Butterfield, a young American who had once worked for them. 

Butterfield increased the quality and circulation of the newspaper and found local investors. On May 1, 1903, Butterfield and his backers bought the newspaper and changed its name to The Alberta Advocate. This newspaper has been in continuous publication ever since. Three months later, Butterfield, always restless, and with a new family to provide for, sold out his share in the newspaper to his partners and moved away.

The remaining investors then created the Advocate Publishing Company. The publishing company continued under a string of owner-editors, until 1907 when the current owner-editor Francis Galbraith changed the paper's name to the Red Deer Advocate. British investors bought Red Deer Advocate Ltd. in 1958 and in 1996 Black Press Ltd. of Victoria, B.C. bought the company which continues to publish the Red Deer Advocate today.