Healdsburg Tribune
The Healdsburg Tribune is a weekly newspaper covering the community of Healdsburg, California and the surrounding areas. It began publication in 1888 as the Sonoma County Tribune, and has changed titles numerous times since. Related titles include the Healdsburg Enterprise (1876-1929), Healdsburg Tribune (1919-1937), and Soyotome Scimitar (1908-1946).
History
The Healdsburg Tribune
In February 1888 Louis Meyer, the oldest son of Healdsburg merchant Sam Meyer, unpacked all the equipment for a small printing plant in a little attic store room in his father's building on West Street. By March 21 the Sonoma County Tribune had made its debut. Eighteen year old Louis made his twenty-nine year old lawyer uncle, Isadore Abrahrun, editor. The paper was politically republican, and rivaled the Enterprise.
Louis Meyer sold the Sonoma County Tribune in 1897 to Frank W. Cooke. It was at this time (March 11, 1897) that the paper's name changed to the Healdsburg Tribune. Cooke was publisher of the Tribune during the 1906 earthquake. The trembler destroyed the office and plant located on West Street (Healdsburg Avenue), next to the Odd Fellows building. He rebuilt the office and plant further north on West Street.
Cooke published the Tribune until 1908, when he sold to gospel minister E.B. Ware and his silent partner, minister G.W. Brewster. Ware found juggling his ministerial duties and newspaper work difficult, and sold the paper to Alexander Crossen in 1909. Crossen liked the artistic aspects of publishing a newspaper, but did not like editorial work, so in 1912 he sold the paper to former owner Frank Cooke. Cooke ran the paper until 1916 when he sold to R.L. Dunlap, who operated the paper on a "shoestring" budget for eight months, and then resold the paper to Cooke.
In his third time attempt at newspaper ownership, Cooke lasted two years. In November 1918 Cooke leased the Tribune for a year with the option to buy to M. Earle Adams, a newspaperman and printer from Palo Alto. When his year lease came to a close, Adams was encouraged by Healdsburg's business community to exercise his option and buy the paper. On November 1, 1918 Adams started publication of the daily Healdsburg Tribune, keeping the weekly going as well .
The Healdsburg Tribune and Enterprise
In 1928 R.E. Baer of the Healdsburg Enterprise became partners with Earle Adams. Baer consolidated his weekly Enterprise with the weekly Tribune, but after a year, in 1929, Baer sold his interest to Adams. Adams ran the paper for the next eight years. Then on January 1, 1937 Adams leased the Tribune and Enterprise to Larry Thatcher, who had been working for the paper for three years. A year later, with the consent of Adams, Thatcher merged the daily and weekly editions into one paper, and published semi-weekly on Mondays and Thursdays (the daily edition had become too difficult to maintain due to the development of radio and the increasing cost of production). Even so, with these changes Thatcher was financially unable to sustain his lease, and Adams came out of his retirement to resume authority over and the duties of the Healdsburg Tribune and Enterprise.
In 1938 the Tribune was housed in a single story brick building on a corner lot of Tucker and Fitch Streets. Earle Adams was editor in cltief, and his wife Agnes acted as office manager. Two employees worked on contents: Max Farmer, who was advertising and commercial printing department chief; and Martha V. Hansen, society and local editor. Three regular employees staffed the mechanical department: Lawrence Rosasco, commercial printing; Edwin Taeuffer, make up and floorman; and Felix Lafon, linotype operator. Three boys worked twice a week as newspaper carriers for those subscribers inside the city limits. Outer city subscriptions were fulfilled by mail.
The Sotoyome Scimitar
The Sotoyome Sun was a newspaper that was established in March 1898 by J.C. Keene. In keeping with the manner of the times, the paper was politically slanted. Keene was a democrat with strong socialistic tendencies, and the Sun reflected these beliefs. In 1908 the Sun was sold to Antle Nowlin, who changed the name of the paper to the Sotoyome Scimitar. The Scimitar was financed by a group of local business men - including Ed Dennes and Alex Flournoy - in opposition to the Healdsburg Tribune and its publisher at the time Frank Cooke, who was campaigning to prohibit the sale of alcohol in Healdsburg. Local businessmen and bankers financed the Scimitar at $100 per week, since the town's other paper, the Healdsburg Enterprise, did not enter into the opposition of Cooke. The "drys" lost the election, and the Scimitar went on to have a long history under the same ownership. In 1946 Ande Nowlin sold the Scimitar.
The Healdburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar
In 1941 another regular employee of the Tribune, Lawrence Rosasco, was given a lease by Earle Adams, but by September 1942 Adams back in charge. In that year, 1942, the Tribune was changed in a weekly again. In 1946 Adams sold to Edd Roundtree. Roundtree bought the Sotoyome Scimitar from Antle Nowlin, and merged the papers together. The name Scimitar was incorporated into the newspaper's heading. A year later in 1947 Ruben and Rohen Carlson bought the paper. And then in May 1950 Arnold Santucci assumed ownership and editorial duties.
See also
- The Windsor Times
- Healdsburg enterprise