Melville Elijah Stone (August 22, 1848 – February 15, 1929) was an American newspaper publisher, the founder of the ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Doughert ...

'', and was the general manager of the reorganized

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. ne ...

Biography

Stone's parents were Reverend Elijah Stone, a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

minister, and Sophia Creighton. In 1876, Stone, who started out as a reporter, founded the first Chicago penny paper, the ''

''. In 1881, he established the ''Chicago Morning News'' (renamed the '' Chicago Record''). Stone became general manager of the reorganized

in 1893, and under his direction it became one of the great news agencies. He retired in 1921. Stone died of hardening of the arteries in 1929.

Legacy

Stone's son, Herbert Stone, married Mary Grigsby McCormick in 1900 and perished in the sinking of the luxury liner RMS ''Lusitania'' in 1915. His wife was daughter of

William Grigsby McCormick William Grigsby McCormick (June 3, 1851 – November 29, 1941) was an American businessman of the influential McCormick family in Chicago, who was a co-founder of Kappa Sigma Fraternity. He also served as a Chicago alderman. Early life and educ ...

of the

McCormick family The McCormick family of Chicago and Virginia is an American family of Scottish and Scotch-Irish descent that attained prominence and fortune starting with the invention of the McCormick Reaper, a machine that revolutionized agriculture, helped b ...

which included her uncle

Robert Sanderson McCormick Robert Sanderson McCormick (July 26, 1849 – April 16, 1919) was an American diplomat. Born in rural Virginia, he was part of the extended McCormick family that became influential in Chicago. Early life McCormick was born July 26, 1849 on the ...

who married the daughter of the founder of the rival newspaper ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

''. Another son, Melville Elijah Stone, Jr., also predeceased him but he was survived by his wife, the former Martha McFarland of Chicago, whom he married on November 25, 1869, and his daughter Elizabeth Creighton Stone. Stone's brother was the

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

Ormond Stone Ormond Stone (January 11, 1847 – January 17, 1933), was an American astronomer, mathematician and educator. He was the director of Cincinnati Observatory and subsequently the first director of the McCormick Observatory at the University ...

. A

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...

is named in his honor.

The penny myth

On the March 3, 2008 edition of ''The Rest of the Story'', Paul Harvey, Jr. (substituting for his more famous

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

) related the story of Stone being responsible for the common use of pennies. The ''

'' was not an initial success, as pennies were not widely used in 1876. According to Harvey, Stone convinced local merchants that employee theft could be reduced if the price of item was sold for 99¢ instead of $1.00 etc., forcing employee to make change for sales and less likely to steal money since it required further calculation. Merchants began experimenting with a penny price drop in their goods, meeting with success among their patrons. An increase in pennies, thought Stone, would help the circulation of his penny paper. When merchants began running low on pennies, Stone purchased several barrels of pennies from the

Mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

, further increasing their use within the Chicago area. This story is also related in Scot Morris' ''The Book of Strange Facts and Useless Information'', though there is some doubt as to its veracity.

References

External links

Melville Stone papers
at Newberry Library
Melville Stone - Pantagraph
(Bloomington, IL newspaper) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Meville 1848 births 1929 deaths American newspaper founders 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Associated Press people Chicago Daily News people People from McLean County, Illinois Journalists from Illinois

Biography

Legacy

The penny myth

References

Further reading

External links