St. Paul Pioneer Press - History

History

The Pioneer Press traces its history back to both the Minnesota Pioneer, Minnesota's first daily newspaper (which was founded in 1849 by James M. Goodhue), and the Saint Paul Dispatch (which was launched in 1868). Ridder Publications acquired the Minnesota Pioneer and the Dispatch in 1927. Ridder merged with Knight Publications to form Knight Ridder in 1974. The two papers were operated for many years as separate morning and evening papers, but were merged into an all-day publication in 1985 as the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch and made the transition to morning-only newspaper in 1990, when they dropped the word "Dispatch". It is sometimes referred to as the "Pi Press", by reference to the nickname of "Strib" used for the Star Tribune.

From 1947 to 1949, the newspaper printed the comic strip Li'l Folks, by St. Paul native Charles M. Schulz. This comic introduced a number of characters who would later return in 1950 in the syndicated comic strip Peanuts, including Charlie Brown and a dog strongly resembling Snoopy.

In 1952, the Dispatch began sponsoring a treasure hunt as part of the Saint Paul Winter Carnival. Clues to finding a medallion are printed in the paper, and the first person to find it wins a sum of money. The prize started off at $1,000, but has risen to $10,000 as of 2004 if returned with the clues and a registered carnival button.

The paper has won three Pulitzer Prizes in 1986, 1988, and 2000.

The McClatchy Company acquired the paper in June 2006 when it bought Knight Ridder. As owner of the Star Tribune, McClatchy had to sell the Pioneer Press because of antitrust concerns. The Pioneer Press was subsequently sold by McClatchy to MediaNews Group later in the year.