Chicago Daily Journal

The ''Chicago Daily Journal'' (''Chicago Evening Journal'' from 1861–1896) was a Chicago newspaper that published from 1844 to 1929.(11 June 1928)
The Press: Chicago Journal
''Time''

Journalism

Originally a Whig paper, by the late 1850s it firmly became a Republican paper, and a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln. Editor Charles L. Wilson made the motion to nominate Lincoln as the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate for Illinois in 1858. And Wilson (with others) helped Lincoln draft his challenge to Stephen A. Douglas to conduct the Lincoln–Douglas debates.White, Horace
The Lincoln and Douglas Debates
p. 17 (1914)(12 February 1909)
Charles L. Wilson of The Chicago Journal Was Active in Senatorial Campaign Against Douglas; Arranged Debtes
''Chicago Daily Journal''

In later years, after a 1904 sale, it became a Democratic paper.

The ''Journal'' was the first newspaper to publish the story (now believed false) that a cow owned by Catherine O'Leary was responsible for the Chicago fire in 1871.

In 1875, reporter Newton S. Grimwood died as the sole passenger in a balloon flight with noted balloonist Washington Harrison Donaldson.Currey, J. Seymour
Chicago: Its History and Its Bulders, Vol. II
p. 289 (1918)

When screenwriter Ben Hecht was a young reporter for the paper in the 1910s, he dug a trench in Lincoln Park for a photograph to support a hoax story that the city had suffered a great earthquake.Petersen, Clarence (19 March 1995)
The Man Who Tasted Shapes
''Chicago Tribune''

The Library of Congress identifies the official titles of the paper over its lifetime as: ''Chicago Daily Journal'' (1844-1853); ''Daily Chicago Journal'' (1853-1855); ''Chicago Daily Journal'' (1855-1861); ''Chicago Evening Journal'' (1861-1896); ''Chicago Journal'' (1896-1904); ''Chicago Daily Journal'' (1904-1929).

History

In April 1844, a group of men bought the two-year-old ''Chicago Express''. A few days later, publishing out of the former office of the ''Express'', the ''Journal'' was first published, three years prior to the start of the ''Chicago Tribune''.Studenkov, Ivan (12 December 2012)
As paper shutters, a look back at the legacy of Chicago Journal
''Chicago Journal''Blanchard, Rufus
Discovery and Conquests of the Northwest with the History of Chicago, Vol. II
pp. 248-52 (1900)

Richard L. Wilson acquired the paper from its founding group after the 1844 election. He served as editor, with a break when President Taylor appointed him postmaster of Chicago in 1849. When Wilson died in 1856, his brother Charles L. Wilson became sole owner. When Lincoln appointed this Wilson to a diplomatic post in London in 1861, brother John L. Wilson managed the paper alone until Charles returned in 1864. Charles L. Wilson died in 1878,(13 March 1878)
Hon. Charles L. Wilson (obituary)
''The New York Times'' and Andrew Shuman ( Lieutenant Governor of Illinois from 1877-1881) then became editor in chief. Shuman was associated with the paper for 33 years, starting as an assistant editor in 1856, and retiring as editor in 1888. George Martin and Slason Thompson succeeded as editors in the late 1880s and into the mid-1890s.(19 January 1889)
Compelled to Lay Down His Pen
''The New York Times''Abbot, Willis J
Chicago Newspapers and Their Makers
pp. 660-61 (June 1895)

James E. Scripps and his son-in-law George Gough Booth acquired the paper in 1895. George's brother Ralph also later acquired an interest, and became editor and publisher in 1900.(9 April 1904)
Chicago Paper in New Hands
''The Fourth Estate''(26 January 1948)
The Booth Lived Surrounded By Art
''Life''

John C. Eastman, who had run Hearst's Chicago operations, bought the paper from the Booths in 1904.(5 April 1904)
Eastman is Said to Have Deserted W. R. Hearst
''Indianapolis Journal''(5 April 1904)

''The New York Times''Chicago Journal Changes Hands
''Mahin's Magazine'', p. 164 (May 1904)(26 January 1925)
Noted Chicago Editor and Newspaper Owner Dies Suddenly
''Medina Daily Journal'' From 1904-06, the paper claimed it increased its daily circulation from 34,800 to 85,000.Chico Daily Journal (ad)
Edward P. Remington's Annual Newspaper Directory, p. 44 (1906) He left the paper to five of his employees upon his death in 1925, when it had a claimed circulation of about 125,000. Samuel Emory Thomason, a prior general manager of the ''Tribune'', along with John Stewart Bryan of ''The Richmond News Leader'', bought the paper in 1928 for $2,000,000.(1 June 1928)
Oldest Chicago Daily Sold
''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' Richard J. Finnegan became managing editor of the paper in 1916.(24 July 1919)
Newspaper Makers at Work
''Editor & Publisher''

Demise and legacy

The ''Chicago Daily News'' purchased the name and circulation of the ''Journal'' in 1929, announced on August 2,Associated Press, “Two Chicago Papers Form Consolidation,” ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Saturday 3 August 1929, Volume 64, Number 156, page 2. which printed its last issue on August 21, 1929.(21 August 1929)
Chicago Oldest Paper absorded; Its Last Issue Today
''Cattaraugus Republican'' (Associated Press story)(2 August 1929)
Journal Joins Chicago News
''Canton Daily News''(12 August 1929)

''Time'' But Thomason retained the ''Journal'' building and resources, and quickly launched the tabloid '' Daily Illustrated Times'' (with Finnegan continuing as managing editor).(21 March 1944)
Veteran Newsman Dies in Florida
''Wilson Daily Times''INVENTORY OF THE FIELD ENTERPRISES RECORDS, 1858-2007, BULK 1950-1975
The Newberry, Retrieved 26 November 2018 That paper (simply known as the ''Daily Times'' after 1935) was merged into the ''Chicago Sun'' in 1948 to become the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. By way of that descent, the ''Sun-Times'' lays a claim to the 1844 lineage of the ''Journal''.

Other ''Journals''

Subsequent Chicago publications have also used the ''Chicago Journal'' name, though without any direct relationship to the prior paper. A weekly community paper went by the name from 1977 to 1984. And another weekly ''Chicago Journal'' lasted in a print edition from 2000 to 2012.

References

{{reflist

Defunct newspapers published in Chicago
Publications disestablished in 1929
Publications established in 1844