''The San Francisco Call'' was a

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

that served

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. Because of a succession of mergers with other newspapers, the paper variously came to be called ''The San Francisco Call & Post'', the ''San Francisco Call-Bulletin'', ''San Francisco News-Call Bulletin'', and the ''News-Call Bulletin'' before the name was finally retired after the business was purchased by 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 ...

''.

History

Between December 1856 and March 1895 ''The San Francisco Call'' was named ''The Morning Call'', but its name was changed when it was purchased by

John D. Spreckels John Diedrich Spreckels (August 16, 1853 – June 7, 1926), the son of German-American industrialist Claus Spreckels, founded a transportation and real estate empire in San Diego, California, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The entrepr ...

. In the period from 1863 to 1864

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

worked as one of the paper's writers. It was headquartered at Newspaper Row. The ''Morning Call'' was reported purchased by Charles M. Shortridge of the ''

San Jose Mercury ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'' for $360,000 in January 1895. Shortridge became the sole proprietor and editor. He was elected to the California state legislature in 1898 representing the 28th district (San Jose). John McNaught became editor in 1895, when Charles M. Shortridge purchased the paper. He was promoted as general manager of the ''Call'' on October 1, 1903, and continued in that position until 1906. In 1913

M. H. de Young Michael Henry de Young (September 30, 1849 – February 15, 1925) was an American journalist and businessman. Early life De Young was born in St. Louis, Missouri. The family was Jewish. Michael in later years claimed that his father was a Balt ...

, owner of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...

'', purchased the paper and sold it to

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 ...

who in 1918 brought in editor

Fremont Older Fremont Older (August 30, 1856 – March 3, 1935) was a newspaperman and editor in San Francisco, California for nearly 50 years. He is best known for his campaigns against civic corruption, capital punishment, prison reform, and efforts on ...

, former editor of the ''

San Francisco Evening Bulletin The ''San Francisco Evening Bulletin'' was a newspaper in San Francisco, founded as the ''Daily Evening Bulletin'' in 1855 by James King of William. King used the newspaper to crusade against political corruption, and built it into having the highe ...

''. In December of that year (1913), Hearst merged ''The San Francisco Call'' with the ''Evening Post'' and the papers became ''The San Francisco Call & Post''. Its most famous editor, crusading journalist Fremont Older, agitated for years against civic corruption and colluded with wealthy San Franciscan sugar baron Rudolph Spreckels to bring down the Mayor,

Eugene Schmitz Eugene Edward Schmitz (August 22, 1864 – November 20, 1928), often referenced as "Handsome Gene" Schmitz, was an American musician and politician, the 26th mayor of San Francisco (1902-7), who was in office during the 1906 San Francisco earthqu ...

and political boss,

Abe Ruef Abraham Ruef (September 2, 1864 – February 29, 1936) was an American lawyer and politician. He gained notoriety as the corrupt political boss behind the administration of Mayor Eugene Schmitz of San Francisco during the period before and after ...

. On 29 August 1929, the newspaper name was changed again to the ''San Francisco Call-Bulletin'', when the ''San Francisco Call & Post'' merged with the ''San Francisco Bulletin''. In 1959 the ''San Francisco Call-Bulletin'' merged with Scripps-Howard's ''

San Francisco News ''The Daily News'', later titled ''The San Francisco News'', was a newspaper published in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1903 by E. W. Scripps as a four-page penny paper. In its early years, it was the smallest of the several newsp ...

'' becoming the ''News-Call Bulletin''. In 1965, the ''News-Call Bulletin'' ceased publication after being purchased by the ''

''.

Notable journalists

''Bulletin'' *

William Brown Meloney (1878–1925) William Brown Meloney (1877–1925) was a journalist, writer, executive secretary to Mayor William Jay Gaynor of New York City and a historian of shipping. Biography He was born on June 6, 1877, in San Francisco, California. His grandfathers w ...

* Bessie Beatty ''Call'' * Frances Fuller Victor *

Evelyn Wells Evelyn Wells (7 April 1899 – 6 September 1984) was a 20th-century American biographer and author most known for her biographies of the ancient Egyptian royals of the 18th dynasty, Nefertiti and Hatshepsut. Biography Evelyn Minerva Wells was b ...

''Call-Bulletin'' *

Adeline Daley Adeline Helen Daley (née Sumi; August 31, 1921 – May 15, 1984) was one of the first female sportswriters, covering baseball for the '' San Francisco Call-Bulletin''. She later went on to become a nationally syndicated humor columnist for the '' ...

Associated Press, "Adeline Daley, News Humorist," ''Chicago Tribune,'' May 17, 1984, Page IV-13
/ref>

References

External links

Image of the ''San Francisco Call''
*

from the Library of Congress

Chronicling America ''Chronicling America'' is an open access, open source newspaper database and companion website. It is produced by the United States National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National End ...

Project
Browse Issues by Calendar: ''The Call''. San Francisco, CA (1895-1913)
at the Library of Congress

Project, Images provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA
Browse Issues by Calendar: ''The Morning Call''. San Francisco, CA (1878-1895)
at the Library of Congress

Project, Images provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA {{DEFAULTSORT:San Francisco Call, The Newspapers published in the San Francisco Bay Area History of the American West History of California Defunct newspapers published in California

History

Notable journalists

See also

References

External links