Rock Island Argus
The Dispatch Publishing Co. Building in Downtown Moline, Illinois
|
|
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | The Small Newspaper Group |
| Publisher | Jerry Taylor |
| Editor | Roger Ruthhart |
| Founded | The Rock Island Argus: 1853 The Dispatch: 1878 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 1720 Fifth Ave. Moline, Illinois 61265 United States |
| Circulation | The Dispatch: 31,752 The Rock Island Argus: 12,558 |
| Website | qconline.com |
The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus are daily morning newspapers based in Moline, Illinois, and circulated primarily throughout the Illinois side of the Quad Cities — Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Island County. They are also for sale in retail establishments on the Iowa side of the Quad Cities — Davenport and Bettendorf.
The newspapers are owned by the Small Newspaper Group, which is located in Kankakee, Illinois. The Dispatch has a circulation of 31,752 in and around Moline and The Rock Island Argus has a circulation of 12,558. The Dispatch and the Rock Island Argus are essentially the same newspaper, only with the front covers switched for their respective readers.
The Argus, founded in Rock Island, is one of Illinois' oldest continuously published newspapers. It can trace its origin to 1851 with the founding of a weekly paper called The Republican. It became Rock Island County’s first daily two years later after it was purchased by Colonel J.B. Danforth. Because Danforth was a staunch member of the Democratic Party he had the paper’s name changed to the Rock Island Argus. The newspaper was purchased by John Potter in 1882 when the paper had 500 subscribers. He died in 1898 and his wife Minnie took over the management of the paper and ran it until her death. In 1925 she had the newspaper plant built on Fourth Avenue in Rock Island. The Potter family operated the newspaper until 1986 when it was bought by the Small Newspaper Group.
In November 1932, the Potters bought Rock Island's first radio station, WHBF (now WKBF). Eventually, that station spawned an FM station (now WLKU) and a television station (still operating under the WHBF-TV calls). The Potters sold the Argus to the Small family in 1986.
Issues for years 1862-1922 have been digitized and are available for free online at both the Chronicling America and the University of Illinois Library websites.
...
Wikipedia