Charles M. Palmer (October 3, 1856 – December 10, 1949) was a Midwest newspaper

broker A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

who assembled much of the

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

media empire and an organizer of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

. Palmer was born in a

log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers. Eur ...

La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census w ...

. He initially worked at the La Crosse Chronicle and the La Crosse Republican and Leader.C.M Palmer Die; Publisher, Broker - New York Times - December 11, 1949
/ref> Palmer moved to

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

where he received $15/week and 25 percent commission on advertising at the Minneapolis Miller. Within two years, he saved enough for a $5,000 down-payment on buying the publication. He would claim that he was part owner of all the newspapers in Minneapolis and reportedly boasted or bragged that he had invested $4,000 in the

Minneapolis Journal The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

and sold it for $120,000 in 1901. In 1889, he accepted a $10,000 job as business manager for the

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

. In a meeting with Hearst, Hearst complained that news transmitted between the West and East Coast of the United States cost 2½ cents per word via telegraph. Palmer said it would be cheaper if other newspapers shared the cost and Hearst authorized him to buy newspapers on his behalf with the first paper being the

New York Journal :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...

. He would be business manager of the company from 1895 to 1899 and would be president of the Boston Record for Hearst for several years. In 1896, he bid $25,000 for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' because he said that he felt that the paper was in "bad shape".

Adolph S. Ochs Adolph Simon Ochs (March 12, 1858 – April 8, 1935) was an American newspaper publisher and former owner of ''The New York Times'' and ''The Chattanooga Times'' (now the ''Chattanooga Times Free Press''). Early life and career Ochs was born t ...

met the asking price of $50,000. In 1900, after the

Illinois Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ap ...

ruled that the

was a de facto public utility and thus had to accept any newspaper that applied without restriction. He was among the publishers who dissolved the AP and established it as a non-profit membership organization.International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 31. St. James Press, 2000, via fundinguniverse.com
/ref> In 1903, he bought what would become the

St. Joseph News-Press The ''St. Joseph News-Press'' is a daily morning newspaper based in St. Joseph, Missouri. It is the flagship publication of the News-Press & Gazette Company, which owns newspapers across northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas, and televis ...

and later the

St. Joseph Gazette The ''St. Joseph Gazette'' was a newspaper in St. Joseph, Missouri from October 1845 until June 30, 1988, when its morning position was taken over by its sister paper, the ''St. Joseph News-Press''. It was the only newspaper delivered to the Wes ...

. The

News-Press & Gazette Company The News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) is a media company based in St. Joseph, Missouri, wholly owned and operated by the Bradley family. It is presided by Brian Bradley and David R. Bradley, with Hank Bradley (retired), Eric Bradley and Kit Bra ...

would be his main newspaper until the end of his life. He died in Saranac Lake, New York and he had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Charles 1856 births 1949 deaths People from La Crosse, Wisconsin 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) News-Press & Gazette Company people