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Akron Beacon Journal company history timeline

1839

April 15, 1839 — Hiram Bowen, backed by businessmen who want a Whig newspaper to campaign for creation of a county centered on Akron, publishes the first edition of the Summit Beacon.

1849

March 3, 1849 -- The Summit Beacon makes its first use of the telegraph wire, printing an extra with the text of President Zachary Taylor’s inaugural address on the same day it is delivered.

March 3, 1849 — The Summit Beacon makes its first use of the telegraph wire, printing an extra with the text of President Zachary Taylor’s inaugural address on the same day it is delivered.

1861

April 18, 1861 -- The outbreak of the Civil War does not make it onto the front page of the Beacon, which was reserved for fiction, poetry and political announcements.

April 18, 1861 — The outbreak of the Civil War does not make it onto the front page of the Beacon, which was reserved for fiction, poetry and political announcements.

8, 1861 -- War news makes it to the Beacon’s front page for the first time when Lane reprints the complete report of the New York World on the Battle of Bull Run.

17, 1861 — Samuel Lane, having completed his term as sheriff, becomes editor of the Beacon.

1863

August 1863 -- Lane hires the Beacon’s first female employees -- as typesetters to replace several printers who have enlisted in the Union Army.

August 1863 — Lane hires the Beacon’s first female employees — as typesetters to replace several printers who have enlisted in the Union Army.

1865

January 1865 — Lane buys a one-third interest in the paper, and the firm becomes Elkins, Lane & Co.

April 27, 1865 -- The side-wheel steamer Sultana, built to carry 400 passengers, takes on 2,400 Union Army officers and soldiers at Vicksburg, Miss., most of them newly released from the notorious Confederate prison camp at Andersonville.

1869

January 1869 -- Thomas Craighead Raynolds, a Canton native, is hired as the first paid reporter.

1890

31, 1890 -- To the surprise of both staffs, the consolidation of the two papers as the seven-day Daily Beacon and Republican is announced.

31, 1890 — To the surprise of both staffs, the consolidation of the two papers as the seven-day Daily Beacon and Republican is announced.

1898

March 2, 1898 — William Baldwin, who had replaced Wright as editor of the old Beacon and Republican, replaces him again as editor of the Beacon Journal.

24, 1898 -- Pictures of the Akron Elks Street Fair are the first actual photographs used in the Beacon Journal.

1913

22 story “Caught the Fiend.” In 1913, Peck is pardoned by the governor, who points to grave doubts about Peck’s guilt or his opportunities to establish his innocence.

1922

13, 1922 -- The Beacon Journal covers the opening of the North Hill Viaduct (since replaced by the Y-Bridge) carrying Main Street over the Little Cuyahoga Valley to North Hill.

1, 1922 — The first log of radio programs, including the programming of an Akron station, appears in the Beacon Journal.

1933

His son John S. Knight inherited the paper, in 1933, on Charles' death.

1956

1956 -- Albert E. Fitzpatrick becomes the Beacon Journal’s first black reporter.

1956 — Albert E. Fitzpatrick becomes the Beacon Journal’s first black reporter.

1959

The deck was opened in 1959.

1963

22, 1963 -- The Beacon Journal prints its first extras since the surrender of Japan when President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.

22, 1963 — The Beacon Journal prints its first extras since the surrender of Japan when President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.

1968

July 17, 1968 -- Beacon Journal staff members are called to work late that night as a disturbance that started at a custard stand near Wooster Avenue mushrooms into six days of disorder, mostly looting and rock-throwing.

1968 — A Pulitzer Prize is awarded to John S. Knight for the Editor’s Notebook.

1974

1974 -- Knight Newspapers Inc. and Ridder Publications Inc. merge.

29, 1974 — The Sunday paper announces the signing the day before by President Gerald Ford of the bill creating the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, later the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

1986

28, 1986 -- The space shuttle Challenger explodes 72 seconds after launch.

1986 — John McMillion is named publisher; W. Dale Allen becomes editor.

2006

On August 2, 2006, McClatchy sold the Beacon Journal to Black Press.

Black Press Group Ltd. announces the appointment of Rick O’Connor as president and CEO. David Black says he will remain chairman of the company that bought the Beacon Journal in 2006 from McClatchy Co.

2010

2010 -- Stories that exclusively appear in print first are labeled “Beacon First.”

2010 — Stories that exclusively appear in print first are labeled “Beacon First.”

2018

In 2018, GateHouse Media bought the newspaper.

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1839
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