Below you will find a BRIEF description of the evolution of some of the newspapers in Cincinnati from the very first in 1793 to 1958 and the combining of the Cincinnati Times-Star and the Cincinnati Post to form the Cincinnati Post & Times Star. The mastheads of the named newspapers are shown along with the description.
There was a time in Cincinnati when there were more newspapers printed in German than in English. Over the years some 200 German newspapers began and ceased here. The first local paper was the Die Ohio Chronik, started in the early 1830s. The Die Weitburger was the second in 1834. The following year the daily Volksblatt appeared and would serve Cincinnati's German population until 1920 when it was absorbed by the Freie Presse which had also been established in 1835. It was the forerunner of the Cincinnati Kurier.
THE VOLKSBLATT
Not a postcard
The Volksblatt was the most influential German-American newspaper in the Ohio Valley. You can see their building to the right in the postcard, on the left, of the Cincinnati Library on Vine Street above. The next image is another angle of these buildings. During the next year the following German newspapers were started: the Westlicher Merkur; The first German Catholic newspaper in the United States, Der Wahrheits freund; the German Lutheran, Der Protestant; the German Methodist, Der Christliche Apologete.
Masthead
Wahrheits Freund. 1837-1907
By 1910 the two major German newspapers, the Volksblatt and the Freie Presse, had a combined circulation of 110,000 due to the fact that around the turn of the century almost one half of the population was of German heritage. After WWII most German newspapers started to use the English language, many also began to use the newsletter format.
CINCINNATI DAILY GAZETTE
The above Gazette edition has the news of the death of President Lincoln and on the same page (follow the dotted line) advertises the play at Pike's Opera House starring the brother of the man who shot Lincoln, Junius Brutus Booth. The show was quietly closed and all signs removed, Booth carefully snuck out of town. The right hand image shows an envelope from the Daily Gazette.
The Big Three
*
Newsboys
CINCINNATI TIMES STAR
The Times Star was begun on June 15, 1880 with the merger of the Spirit of the Times (begun in 1840) and the Cincinnati Daily Star (1872). Charles Phelps Taft and his father-in-law, David Sinton (Sinton Hotel). Taft's nephew Hulbert Taft became the publisher after his uncle retired, he was succeeded by David Ingalls, grandson of Charles P. Taft and grandnephew of President William Howard Taft. The non-postcard image above is the Times-Star Building that was built in 1892 on the n.e.c. of 6th and Walnut. The 2nd image is a postcard showing the building at night.
Newsboys waiting for
papers
Joseph Garretson
Editor
The last image above is a newspaper depiction of the editor around 1904.
1933 Article on Times-Star building construction
In 1933 the 16 story building you see in the postcard and 3 photographs in the middle row above was constructed. The first six floors were the printing plant and the remainder were offices. Some of the architectural details of this Art Deco style building include a massive arch entrance with stunning bronze grillwork, elevators that are adorned with mythological women, the tower corners are topped with the symbols of journalism: Truth, Speed, Patriotism, and Progress. The airplane beacon on top is shaped like an urn, there is a newsboy entrance, printers Benjamin Franklin and Johannes Gutenberg are among the bas-relief decorations.
Entrance
In the 1950s Cincinnati's three afternoon papers were having financial
problems, the big three needed to become two. The Tafts tried to buy the morning
paper the Enquirer, instead the other afternoon paper the Post bought the
Times-Star in July 1958. The Post then moved into the Times-Star building and
began operation as The Cincinnati Post and Times-Star until January 1, 1974 when
Times-Star vanished from the masthead.
In 1984 the newspaper moved to Court Street and, in 1991, the
building was purchased by Hamilton County to house the Court of Domestic
Relations. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
CINCINNATI POST
Charles Mosher Ren.
Mulford
Secy. &
Treas. Sports
Editor
The Post was first published on January 3, 1881 and
was called The Penny Paper (guess how much it cost). James Scripps joined the
paper and within two years he and his brother, Edward, took over and renamed the
paper The Evening Post. Operations were moved to Longworth Street (between 5th
& 6th Streets) and Elm, seen in the non-postcard image above. Scripps also
became interested in news service companies. He combined 3 small regional news
services in 1907 and created United Press, later United Press International
(UPI). The Scripps Howard companies bought into broadcasting and other
publishing interests. The Howard in the name came from Ron Howard the assistant
managing editor of the Post and president of UPI.
Financial problems with afternoon papers in the 1970s forced the
Post and the Enquirer to join their printing, circulation, and business
departments into one, but the two newsrooms and editorial departments were to
remain completely separate. The Post subsequently moved to offices on East Court
Street.
Of course the Cincinnati Post ceased operations at the end of 2007.
COMMERCIAL TRIBUNE
The Commercial Tribune located at 4th and Race was absorbed by the Enquirer in 1930. The Tribune produced this set of postcards. This is another example of me showing some of my Northern Kentucky postcards in order to show a more complete grouping. I believe that these 16 cards constitute a complete set.
San Francisco Earthquake
St. Peters
Cathedral
Chamber of
Commerce
City
Hall
Post
Office
Armory
Esplanade &
Fountain
Jewish
Hospital
Art Academy &
Museum 4th St. East From Race
St.
Suspension Bridge
University of Cincinnati
Covington, KY City
Hall
Covington, KY
Library Newport, KY
Courthouse Newport, KY Post
Office
CINCINNATI ENQUIRER
One week after the death of
President Harrison the Enquirer began publishing. Above is the front page of the
very first edition of the Enquirer, 4/10/1841. The print in this edition was set
by hand, letter by letter. The papers circulation was around 1,000. It began as
an afternoon paper but, by 1843, it began printing in the morning so that it
could be delivered by mail the same day. By 1848 it became the 5th paper in the
nation to produce a Sunday edition.
When President Lincoln was assassinated the Enquirer was late with
the story because the paper had closed for the day so that their employees could
join in the celebration of the ending of the Civil War.
The first offices and plant of the paper began on the south side of
5th Street east of Main. It then moved to the east side of Vine Street just
south of 4th. On March 22, 1866 a fire destroyed Pike's Opera House on 4th
Street and as the Enquirer was next door, it was also consumed. The paper only
missed one day of publication because the competing newspapers allowed their
facilities to be used. The Enquirer rebuilt at 247 Vine Street. This is the site
for the Enquirer for the next 126 years (it was renumbered 617 Vine in the
1890s.)
Enquirer in 1903
Delivery of the paper
In 1926 a new building was carefully constructed
around the old one in such a way that the paper never missed publishing once.
In 1952 the paper was put up for sale and the Cincinnati Times-Star
offered $7.5 million, but the Enquirer's employees angered at the possibility of
a rival newspaper buying the Enquirer raised $7.6 million and purchased the
paper themselves. Within 3 years disagreements among the board members
erupted and the paper was again put up for sale in 1955. This time the
Cincinnati Post out-bid the Times-Star.
Then in 1958 the Post bought out the Times-Star and shut it down.
Anti-trust laws forced the Post to divest itself of the Enquirer in 1971.
In 1977 the Enquirer and the Post entered into a joint operating
agreement where the Enquirer would handled the printing and operations for both
papers while the editorial divisions were separate. In 1997 new printing
facilities were opened on Western Avenue, printing both The Enquirer and The
Post. The agreement was for
thirty years and was ended in 2007 at which time the Post was closed for good.
With the demise of the Cincinnati Post in December
of 2007, the Cincinnati Enquirer was now "King of the Hill" all
competition had been eliminated.
The Enquirer has gone thru many owners over the intervening
years, the last being the Gannett Co. Inc. The publisher, Margaret E. Buchanan,
is a Cincinnati native who is the newspaper's first woman publisher. In 1992 The
Enquirer moved into their new headquarters at 312 Elm St.
The old Enquirer Building will now be converted into a 238 room
hotel plus 12,000' of retail space on the ground floor. SREE Hotels LLC of North
Carolina plans to open by the end of 2014.
On March 11, 1913 the printing facilities on Western Avenue were
closed for good with all editions being printed in Dayton, Ohio. It was also the
day the Enquirer ceased printing the paper in the "Old" style and
began printing in the new compact size.
New Enquirer Headquarters
THE STARCHROOM PUBLISHING CO,
Starchroom
Ad.
Tip Top
Laundry
Burkhardt
Clothing
The Starchroom Publishing Co. published a journal for professional laundry businesses that was located in the Goodall Bldg. at 330 W. Ninth St. It did not offer any insights for the individual homeowner. They also offered postcards with each subscription that would advertise their product as seen in the Tip Top Laundry card. I don't believe the second, Burkhardt Clothing card has any relationship with the Starchroom company
