Sellwood Bee

The ''Bee'' is a newspaper based in Sellwood, a neighborhood of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was founded as the ''Sellwood Bee'' in 1906, and at various times has been known as ''Bee'', the ''Milwaukee Bee'', and the ''Sellwood-Moreland Bee''. It returned to simply the ''Bee'' in 1970, and has retained the name since.

The ''Bee'' was mentioned in Rowell's American Newspaper Directory the year after it launched. From its earliest days until recent history, the ''Bee'' has earned favorable mentions, as well as quotation or republication in, publications ranging from those in nearby St. Johns (which had common ownership with the ''Bee'' for some years) to papers elsewhere in Oregon, and occasionally as far away as Iowa.

At the time of the ''Bee's'' founding, Sellwood had 5,000 to 6,000 residents. The paper was founded as a weekly publication with an annual subscription cost of 1. Citing boycotts and labor costs, founders Charles Ballard and C. T. Price moved the ''Bee'' to neighboring Milwaukie about four months into publication, changing its name to the ''Milwaukee Bee'' (with an incorrect spelling); but they returned to Sellwood eight months later, to offices the paper would occupy until the 1990s. Ballard sold his share to C. M. Thompson in 1907. Thompson and Price had some success in building up the paper, and used its pages to advocate for business interests in Sellwood's development. John P. Locke, who also owned the ''Nob Hill News'' of Northwest Portland, bought the paper in 1920, but kept Thompson on as publisher. The publisher as of 1939 was C. M. Thompson.

The paper's title was originally the ''Sellwood Bee'' (most of 1906–49); The ''Milwaukee Bee'' (briefly, during its first year); The ''Sellwood-Moreland Bee'' (1949–70); and simply ''The Bee'' (1917–18 and 1970–present)

Marcia and Tom Pry purchased the ''Bee'' in 1974 and built it into a chain of seven local papers. Marcia Pry was well known, among other things the first woman president of the Oregon Newspapers Publishing Association. The Prys also funded the launch of a long-running music magazine, ''The Two Louies''.

The Prys sold the paper to MR Communications Group in March 1994. By December, MR announced it would shut down the ''Bee'', and that it had sold three other Portland papers it had purchased (''St. Johns Review'', the oldest weekly community newspaper in Portland; ''Northwest Neighbor'', a monthly community newspaper started in 1975 by former mayor Bud Clark; and the ''Hollywood Star''). Teresa Wood Smith purchased the paper, preventing its demise, in 1995, and John and Carol Dillin purchased it from her in 1996.

The Pamplin Media Group bought the paper from the Dillins in 2000, a purchase that was announced concurrently with its acquisition of 10 other newspapers.

In 2006 the ''Bee'' published a four-page, 100-year anniversary retrospective.

References

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External links

ReadTheBee.com

1906 establishments in Oregon
Newspapers published by Pamplin Media Group
Newspapers published in Portland, Oregon
Newspapers established in 1906
Sellwood-Moreland, Portland, Oregon