AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, the owners, editors, and managers of the Decatur Review and Decatur Herald could not have dreamed of a future that would make them wealthy and influential. It was enough just to survive the publishing challenges that claimed so many rivals and competitors in the 1800s.
Their stories are in many ways reflective of the downstate newspaper fortunes that developed across the state of Illinois in such locations as Springfield, Kankakee, Rockford, and Peoria. The Decatur newspapers story is important in terms of the personalities involved, their willingness to bury individual pride and ambition to stay in business, not to mention their impact on communications across the lower half of the state.
Most newspaper companies serving large downstate Illinois communities began in the 1800s as independently owned operations published weekly or less frequently. One study of the business states the first print edition,...
