USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I > Part 69
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In 1863, it became clear that the rapidly growing business of The Sentinel required new and larger quarters, and the property on Mason Street, where the present 'Sentinel Building stands, was purchased and a building of extraor- dinary quality for those times was ereeted, which for years was one of the show places of the city. With the exception of the year 1893, when the present Sentinel Building was under construction, The Sentinel has been housed on the same site ever since.
The first Sentinel office was in the upper story of a small frame building located at about the north end of the present Black Block on East Water Street, near Wisconsin. In 1838 the paper removed to a little frame building at the northeast corner of East Water and Wisconsin streets. In October. 1839, it moved again to rooms above the store of Harrison Reed's father at what is now about 390 East Water Street. In January, 1840, another move was made, this time to a new frame building ereeted at the southwest corner of Wisconsin and East Water streets. Here The Sentinel remained until May 21, 1849, when it was removed to the second, third and fourth stories of what was known as the Ludington Block, on ground now occupied by the north twenty feet of the Trust Company Building. So that during the eighty odd years of its life The Sentinel has always been a feature of the immediate neighborhood in which it first saw the light.
In 1865 Mr. Sholes left the paper and was succeeded by Charles W. Willard. who after a brief period resigned and was succeeded by Hayden K. Smith and A. C. Botkin, who directed the editorial page from 1867 to 1870.
In 1870, Mr. Jermain having retired shortly before. Mr. Brightman sold The Sentinel to the Milwaukee Publishing Company, the first corporation to possess the paper, and returned to his old home in Michigan.
A. M. Thomson, W. C. Roberts and C. W. Wilcox figure as the incorporators of the new company and Mr. Thomson became editor in chief. It was known. however, that several well known citizens were interested, among them Mat- thew HI. Carpenter, Wisconsin's brilliant senator.
On March 3, 1873, Mr. Thomson put into excention a long cherished plan to establish a Sunday Sentinel. The first issnes were well received but the publication languished and was suspended on October 5th of the same year. It was not until November 9, 1879, that The Sunday Sentinel was perman- ently established.
Political animosities and faetional troubles foreed Mr. Thomson out of The Sentinel in 1874. Editorial authority was resumed by A. C. Botkin. with Dr. I. L. Kaine as associate editor. In 1877 Mr. Botkin decided to go
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west for the benefit of his health and Doctor Kaine succeeded to the editor's chair, serving until 1880. Then came a rapid succession of editors, namely, Amos Wright, W. C. Clark, T. W. Haight and Elijah W. Halford. The tenure of each of these gentlemen was brief and in 1882 The Sentinel was purchased by the owners of The Republican News. On May 22, 1882, the paper appeared under the hyphenated title of The Republican-Sentinel, which style was main- tained until the following New Year day when it was changed back to The Milwaukee Sentinel.
ITorace W. Rublee, another of the distinguished citizens who figure in The Sentinel's history, was the editor of the paper under the new ownership and continued brilliantly and ably to guide its destinies until his death on October 18, 1896.
On January 1, 1883, The Sentinel erected a new Scott perfecting press, the first machine of this kind to be installed in Wisconsin. The necessity for a new building became evident in the next few years, and in August, 1892. the old building was razed, The Sentinel temporarily removing to the Standard Paper Company Building on Broadway. Work was immediately begun on the present Sentinel Building, which was completed and occupied in December, 1893.
On Mr. Rublee's death, editorial charge of the paper was assumed by Ilarry P. Myrick, who had long been identified with the paper as telegraph editor, news editor and managing editor, and Mr. Myriek continued to dis- charge this duty until he left to become the editor of the Milwaukee Free Press, established in June, 1901.
On February 18, 1901, The Sentinel again changed hands, passing into the possession of the present owner, Charles F. Pfister. Lansing Warren, a bril- liant and able newspaper man from Chicago, was made publisher of the paper, George H. Clement, managing editor, and Edgar T. Wheelock headed a large and capable staff of editorial writers. Death eut short Mr. Warren's ambitious plans, however, for he succumbed to typhoid fever in the summer of 1901.
On his death, Mr. Clement became publisher, W. J. Kuecker was business manager and M. C. Douglas managing editor. Mr. Clement retired in 1903 and John L. Foley became the business manager of the paper soon afterward.
On March 1, 1909, the All Day Sentinel was inaugurated, giving the paper afternoon as well as morning editions and adding largely to the influence and advertising patronage.
In 1908 Mr. Douglas retired as managing editor and was succeeded by John Poppendieck, Jr., who had been a member of the editorial organization for many years and had served as city editor and assistant managing editor. Soon after Mr. Douglas' retirement, Edward G. Johnson, who had been associated with the paper as an editorial writer since June, 1901, became the editor of the paper, serving in that capacity until his retirement on August 15, 1921. He was succeeded by George Lounsbury.
On the retirement of Mr. Foley as business manager in 1911, Mr. Poppen- dieck took over the responsibilities of that position and has held the dual position of managing editor and business manager ever since.
In November, 1917, The Evening Sentinel was established, to take the place
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of the afternoon editions of the All Day Sentinel, thus making an evening paper entirely separate and distinct from the morning issues, another development which has added largely to the prestige and growth of the paper.
William George Bruce, who was connected with the publication during the years from 1880 to 1891 on January 26, 1917, contributed a sidelight on a transi- tion period in its history under the title of "A Page of Sentinel History," as follows:
"The daily newspaper is a familiar guest, whom we respect as something that lives and breathes apart from man himself. And yet it is a composite of men which comes to you daily, in the guise of sheets of printed paper, to tell yon what the world has been thinking and doing. The reader sees only the finished prodnet, the maker sees the process of production.
"In the light of eleven years of active inside service with the Sentinel, the story of its beginnings, its gradual rise and its eminent success, comes to me with exceptional appeal. It was during the years of 1880 to 1891 when the Sentinel went through a transition period, that I held a responsible position with the same.
"It was during this period of the Sentinel's history that it rose from a starvation to a self-sustaining basis, when it serapped its old-time printing paraphernalia and introduced typesetting machines, fast printing presses and modern methods in its mechanical equipment. The job printing department and the book bindery were sold, and the entire building was given over to the production of a newspaper on more modern lines.
"This transition period also involved a disputed ownership. The Sentinel Company was then headed by Newton S. Murphy as president and Samuel McCord as secretary. Their control was questioned by a body of men con- sisting of Charles Ray, Charles F. Isley, Jerome R. Brigham, Henry C. Payne and others. A legal contest ensued, which was never carried to its ultimate conchision. By adjustment the control went to the latter body of men.
"They had purchased the Milwaukee News, a democratie morning paper, which was as old as the Sentinel and had been its only competitor in the morning field, called it the Republican and News, and changed its political freed from democratie to republican. Ultimately, the paper was merged into the Sentinel.
"When I first came to the Sentinel. W. G. Roberts was the business man- ager, and Louis Durr the advertising manager. Lucius W. Nieman, now owner of the Journal, was the managing editor, and Dr. J. L. Kaine, the principal editorial writer. Melvin A. Hoyt, later owner of the Daily News, served as Waukesha correspondent. Henry Bleyer was the news editor. With the change of ownership, Horace Rublee became the editor-in-chief, Henry P. Myrick became the city editor. During that period. James D. Boyd was the business manager for a few years and was later succeeded by Chauncey W. Gates.
"When I speak of a starvation period I have in mind the hand to mouth existence of the paper. Many a Saturday night the business manager, book- keeper and cashier-I was the cashier-went home without their payroll en- velopes. The printers, pressmen, editors and reporters had to be paid first.
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On Monday morning we hurried about to eolleet our week's bills from the dry goods houses and theaters in order to cover our overdraft at the bank and pay our own salaries.
"With a background of eleven years of experience on the inner side of a newspaper, I see something more than does the average reader in the finished product as it comes to the breakfast table. Between the printed lines comes the vision of a body of men in shirt sleeves, writing at desks, elicking type- setting machines, feeding rolls of paper into presses, packing, addressing, shipping, carrying, etc .- all working to one common end, namely, to serve the reader.
"The Sentinel has served its constitueney long, faithfully and well. It is an essential part of the economie, eivic and social life of the community-an institution that reflects the activities, the progress and the aspirations of an entire people. May it continue its great mission as a metropolitan news- paper, receive the support and cooperation it so well deserves and that will enable it to render at all times the highest measure of service, and thus con- tinue to promote the city's power, prestige and progress."
The Wisconsin News .- The history of the Daily Wisconsin News is a record of persistent journalistie effort sustained continuously throughout the course of Milwaukee's development from the status of an ambitious village to that of a great city. It begins with the first issue of the first newspaper of the budding metropolis, The Advertiser, a six-column weekly, July 14, 1836.
The publisher of The Advertiser was Daniel HI. Richards, a native of Burlington, N. Y., who was then in his twenty-eighth year. Ile was a printer who after learning his trade in Canada had ventured westward to Peoria, HI., there to engage in merchandizing for short time, until opportunity at Mil- waukee lured hin back to his chosen vocation. Here he found at its height the boom which was to be deflated by the panie of 1837 and carry down prices of realty from levels that in many instances were not regained for nearly half a century.
There was intense rivalry between the residents of the east and west sides of Milwaukee River, and Mr. Richards settled on the west side and allied his interests with that seetion, then known as Kilbourntown. Naturally the east siders were discomfited, and would have welcomed opportunity to purchase The Advertiser and remove it across the river. Mr. Richards was assisted in editing The Advertiser by Hans Crocker, a man of legal training who was conspicuously active in the new community, and he was encouraged also with contributions from men of prominence, among them Byron Kilbourn, Increase A. Lapham, Dr. R. 1. Barber and John H. Tweedy.
The launching of a newspaper enterprise was a far more difficult under- taking in those days than at present, because paper and supplies for almost a year had to be purchased and brought from the East by comparatively slow transit.
Lean years followed the panic of 1837, and the experiences of Mr. Riel- ards' newspaper were not such as to engender enthusiastic optimism ; but he
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persisted with The Advertiser, latterly with the aid of Solomon C. Enos, who was associated with him in 1840 as editor and printer.
Two years previously Josiah A. Noonan, who had been employed on The AAdvertiser as a printer, and who also had been a contributor to its col- mms, purchased printing materials and went to Madison, where he began the publication of The Wisconsin Enquirer. Ile was a typesetter who had worked in New York City as rack-mate with Horace Greeley and established a warm friendship with the future editor and publicist that endured for life. Ilis venture at Madison proved unremunerative, and became so unpromising that in 1841 he suspended publication of the Enquirer and shipped his outfit back to Milwaukee, where his reappearance suggested possible competition ; and as Mr. Richards was in a mood for retirement rather than a struggle for supremacy in a seant field, he sold The Advertiser to Mr. Noonan and retired to land holdings on the west side, there for the remainder of his career to devote himself to his private business and to the upbuilding of the city through active personal interest in eivie affairs.
Mr. Richards announced his retirement March 20, 1841, and Mr. Noonan in assuming control on March 27th changed the name of the paper to The Courier, making it a vigorous weekly publication. With the issue of The Courier for September 21, 1842. the name of George Hver appeared in its columns as half-owner and associate editor, and The Courier was enlarged to a seven-column folio; but this partnership was of short duration, ending February 8, 1843. Meanwhile Mr. Noonan had been taking an active interest in polities, and had become a political figure of so much influence that in 1843 he was appointed postmaster by President Tyler, to succeed Solomon Juneau. This appointment foreshadowed Noonan's retirement from journal- ism, and at the first opportunity, May 14. 1845, he withdrew from The Courier, turning the paper over to William H. Sullivan, who became publisher. with John A. Brown, a man who had had newspaper experience at Rockford, Ill., as editor.
Recovering from the effects of the panie of 1837, Milwaukee began to in- crease in population to an extent that seemed to warrant a daily issue, and accordingly, on the 19th of March, 1846, The Courier was made a morning newspaper. But the venture was premature, and on the 9th of July, in the same year, The Courier receded to the estate of a weekly newspaper, where it remained until February 22, 1847. when it was made The Evening Courier. boasting in its first issue the patronage of 300 paid-up subscribers. This second venture as a daily newspaper again strained the tenuous financial hold of the ambitions owners, and they reluctantly resumed weekly issue. They then yielded to circumstances, and on June 2. 1847, for the sum of $2,000. transferred The Courier to William E. Cramer and Joseph Curtis, who had come from the State of New York for the purpose of founding a democratie newspaper.
The new owners assumed control June 8th, and changed the name of the paper to The Daily Wiscons'n. Mr. Cramer was a young man, a native of Waterford, N. Y., who had litted himself for a career at the bar before he vielded to a liking for journalism and joined the staff of The Albany Argus.
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then the leading democratie newspaper of the Empire State. He came to Milwaukee with the prestige of this newspaper experience and correlative association with such politieal luminaries as Silas Wright, John A. Dix, Governor William L. Marey, Horatio Seymour, Samnel J. Tilden and ex- President Martin Van Buren, and quickly achieved prominence. Mr. Curtis was a newspaperman of Rochester, N. Y., well grounded upon practical ex- perience that enabled him to condnet the business department with enterprise and economy; but notwithstanding success from the start be found his sur- roundings nneongenial, and on September 17, 1850, sold his interest in The Daily Wiseonsin to C. S. Ihurley, who assumed the business management. The partnership of Cramer & Hurley continued only until November 1, 1852, when Mr. Cramer purchased Mr. Hurley's interest and became sole proprietor, assuming control that he was destined to hold for a period of more than fifty years.
Mr. Cramer came west as a democrat, but later he gave support to the cause of the whigs, and then became a steadfast republican. Ile was a re- markable man in his profession because for the greater portion of his life as a journalist his sight and hearing were badly impaired, and toward the end of his career he was virtually blind and deaf. Despite this physical handicap he was well informed and always in close touch with political and economic activities.
In 1854 there appeared in Milwaukee a young man who was to take a large part in the future of The Daily Wisconsin-Andrew J. Aikens, a native of Barnard, Vt., who had had newspaper experience in his native state and in Massachusetts, and more recently in New York City, on the staff of The Evening Post, by which paper he was sent west as a correspondent. Mr. Aikens at once became enamored of Milwaukee and deeply impressed with the opportunities for advancement in his ehosen work, and severing his relations with The Evening Post he became the first secretary of the Chamber of Com- meree and later a member of The Daily Wisconsin's staff, as city and com- mercial editor. Mr. Cramer noted Mr. Aikens' energy and business taet, and in 1857 made him business manager.
In 1864 John F. Cramer joined his unele in the publication of The Daily Wisconsin, and the firm became William E. & John F. Cramer. At this juneture Mr. Aikens conceived an improvement on the English method of printing auxiliary newspapers, the reservation of space for advertising, the compensation for which at times was sufficient to pay for his patrons the en- tire cost of the white paper. These sheets were called "patent insides." Mr. Aikens was admitted to partnership, and the firm of Cramer, Aikens & Cramer began publishing "patent insides" as the pioneer house in the business. Eventually as many as 8,000 newspapers in the United States were printed on this plan. Mr. Aikens founded for himself and his partners what were called "Newspaper Unions, " in Chicago, New York, Cincinnati, Nashville. Atlanta and Memphis, for the printing of auxiliary sheets, and from these establishments under his management more than two thousand newspapers received their "ready print."
It is proper that this adjunet of the business of the paper, which shortly
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afterwards was named The Evening Wisconsin, should be accorded a place in the newspaper's history, as the work on the "patent insides" issued from Milwaukee was done in the newspaper's plant, and the profits of this immense side enterprise served to sustain the newspaper during periods of business stringeney.
For many years semi-weekly and weekly issues were put forth by The Evening Wisconsin, which maintained them with success until improvement in news and mail facilities made daily issues so popular in rural distriets that weekly newspapers in the larger centers were compelled to enter the daily field or go out of existence.
When William E. Cramer died in 1905 his widow. Harriet L. Cramer, was elected president of The Evening Wisconsin Company. the corporate name that had been taken on by the old firm, and she continued the publication of the paper with Mr. Aikens and John F. Cramer in the business office, and John G. Gregory as editor. Mr. Aikens survived the senior partner only four years, and after his death, in 1909, Mrs. Cramer was assisted in the manage- ment by John F. Cramer and John W. Campsie.
This arrangement continued for nine years, until June, 1918, when Mrs. Cramer and her associates in the corporation disposed of The Evening Wis- consin to William II. Park, who up to the previous year had been one of the owners and publishers of The Milwaukee Daily News. Before the close of the year Mr. Park and those associated with him sold The Evening Wisconsin to Arthur Brisbane, editor of The New York Journal and other Hearst news- papers, who thereupon assumed editorial direction of the paper. During the fall of 1918 Mr. Brisbane bought also The Milwaukee Daily News and The Milwaukee Free Press with a view to simplify the newspaper situation in the eity. and in December of that year the consolidation of these properties was effected.
The Milwaukee Daily News grew ont of The Milwaukee Labor Review, a small weekly edited by William II. Park, who in March, 1887, began daily publication. Two years later Mr. Park took A. M. Hoyt into partnership. at the same time changing the name of the paper to The Milwaukee Daily News. At first independent in polities, but later espousing democratie doc- trines, The Daily News won a large patronage in labor eireles, and was the first Milwaukee daily newspaper to sell for 1 cent.
The Milwaukee Free Press Company was incorporated in the spring of 1901, and the first issue of The Free Press appeared June 18th of that year. Isaae Stephenson, a wealthy lumberman who later became United States senator, was its chief financial backer, but several prominent Milwaukee financiers also were among its stockholders. It was born of factional division in the republican party of Wisconsin, and its avowed purpose was to provide a mouthpiece for the progressive movement, and especially to further the political fortunes of its champion, Robert M. La Follette. Under the editorial direction of Harry P. Myrick, The Free Press was notably successful in pro- moting its cause until differences between Senator La Follette and Senator Stephenson led to a change of poliey.
Shortly after the outbreak of the European war. Senator Stephenson de-
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eided to sell the paper, and after extended negotiations it was purchased by a group of eighty prominent Milwaukee business men. The new owners, known as The Free Press Corporation, took charge early in the year 1915, with E. H. Kronshage as editor. The paper was opposed to participation in the war and therefore it advocated the maintenance of strict neutrality on the part of the Government at Washington. During this partienlar period The Free Press had the largest eireulation in its history.
The Daily News and The Free Press were discontinued by Mr. Brisbane, who issued from the plant of The Evening Wisconsin a paper entitled The Evening Wisconsin and Daily News, and later, after varions minor changes. made the name The Daily Wisconsin News. Then, after somewhat more than a year of ownership, during which time the paper had nearly tripled its eir- culation, Mr. Brisbane disposed of his interest to William Randolph Hearst. who assumed ownership in November, 1919. Hector Il. Elwell is the managing editor and J. II. Lederer the publisher of the The Wisconsin News.
During all these various changes of ownership the name of the publishing corporation remained The Evening Wisconsin Company, and the word "Wis- eonsin" has been part of the paper's title since William E. Cramer undertook its publication June 8, 1847. More than that, as this historical resume shows, The Wisconsin News ean trace its lineage without break in publication to the first newspaper published in Milwaukee-The Advertiser, founded July 14, 1836.
Since Mr. Hearst acquired The Wisconsin News a Sunday edition, named The Sunday Milwaukee Telegram, has been added.
The Milwaukee Journal .- There is no criterion of a city which is applied more frequently than the standing and quality of its daily newspapers. The Milwaukee Journal is everywhere recognized as the chief newspaper of its city and its state. In its country, even beyond its country's limits, The Journal is recognized as one of the foremost of American newspapers.
For forty years The Journal's fortunes and policies have been directed by the man who founded it. L. W. Nieman was its editor in chief and con- trolling owner at its birth and is now. There are few instances like this in American journalism.
It was in 1882 that Mr. Nieman, who already had made his mark in west- ern journalism, determined to start in Milwaukee a newspaper independent of the many special interests which made the press of the time a thing to be doubted rather than believed. He chose Milwaukee because he knew and liked the city. Here he had risen from the rank of reporter to that of man- aging editor of The Sentinel. He is a native of Southern Wisconsin and this faet likewise influenced him. He chose the year 1882 because two of the then existing dailies-The Sentinel and The Republican News-had just consoli- dated.
At the time he was editor of The St. Paul Dispatch, in which, to induce him to make his relationship permanent, he had been offered a third interest. Hle declined this tempting offer for what promised to be greater independence. Ile set out to interest James E. Seripps, the famous Detroit publisher, in his Milwaukee undertaking. Negotiations had proceeded so far that offices had Vol. 1-46
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