Oroville Mercury-Register

History

In 1873, L. D. Clark, formerly connected with the Red Bluff Independent, published the first edition of the Oroville Mercury. A year later Clark sold the paper to John C. Gray. He was soon joined by William DeMott. DeMott bought out his business partner in May 1878. Two years later Demott died. His widow sold the paper in January 1884 to Jesse Wood, a former school superintendent and editor of the Chico Enterprise. By June, the paper was published by E. B. Price.

In October 1895, former proprietor Mrs. Frances Price Lawrence resumed control of the paper from Mr. and Mrs. Downer. One paper wrote she "can wield a pen with the cleverest of them" and "There are few women who could have taken a newspaper as this women did and controlled it so sagaciously." That July, Lawrence returned the paper to Hart A. Downer.

In 1912, Edward A. Cunningham Jr., business manager of the Marysville Appeal, purchased the Mercury from J.A. Lawrence. A year later he sold it. The new owner was J. H. Dungan, a former Woodland newsman. He operated the paper until his death in 1922. The Mercury was then passed on to his widow, Mrs. Edythe Van Anda Dungan. In May 1926, she sold the paper to Farewell Brown. The former publisher then enrolled as a student at the College of the Pacific in Stockton. In June 1927, Brown and his mother died from an accidental gas leak. In September 1927, Eugene MacLean, owner of the Mercury, purchased the Oroville Register and consolidated it with his paper.

Dan L. Beebe Sr. was then hired to work as publisher of the newly formed Oroville Mercury-Register. Beebe previously worked as a manager at the United Press's western division in San Francisco and for a time was a part owner of the Modesto News. Beebe Sr. assumed ownership of the Mercury-Register from MacLean in return for operating the paper. The Beebe family owned and managed the paper for over five decades. Dan Beebe Sr. went on to serve as president of the California Newspaper Publishers Association and was inducted into the California Press Association Hall of Fame. He was local advocate, leading the fight for fluoridated water and the Oroville-Wyandotte Irrigation District's South Fork Project. He severed as the paper's publisher until his death in 1973 and was succeeded by his son Dan Beebe Jr. In 1983, Beebe Jr. retired and sold the paper to the Buckner News Alliance.

In 1990, the company sold the Mercury-Register to Donrey Media Group. At the time the paper had a circulation of 9,000. Donrey owned two other dailies in the state: the Chico Enterprise-Record and the Red Bluff Daily News. In 1999, Donrey merged 10 of its California newspapers, including the Mercury-Register, into Garden State Newspapers, which was owned by MediaNews Group. Donrey owned a third of the joint venture while MediaNews owned the majority stake.

References

References

1. "Mercury-Register (Oroville [Calif.]; Chico, Calif.) 1987-Current".
2. "Print Solutions". NorCal Community Media.
3. "Oroville Mercury-Register". Echo Media.
4. "Help". NorCal Community Media.
5. (August 2, 1873). ""Oroville Mercury."". Trinity Journal.
6. (August 29, 1874). "Pacific Slope News.". The Solano-Napa News Chronicle.
7. (October 18, 1874). "Improved.". Marysville Appeal.
8. (May 17, 1878). "News And Other Items.". Petaluma Weekly Argus.
9. (June 19, 1880). "Notes.". Mendocino Coast Beacon.
10. (January 2, 1884). "Notice". Daily Evening Tribune.
11. (June 21, 1884). "Notice". Marysville Appeal.
12. (October 9, 1895). "Newspapers.". The Solano-Napa News Chronicle.
13. (Jul 18, 1895). "Notice". Oroville Register.
14. (July 12, 1895). "Notice". Independent-Herald.
15. (August 8, 1912). "Mercury Changes Owners". Feather River Bulletin.
16. (August 1, 1912). "Oroville Mercury Sold.". The Record.
17. (April 9, 1913). "Oroville Mercury Is Sold By Cunningham". The Searchlight.
18. (January 25, 1922). "J. H. Dungan, Editor of Oroville, Is Dead". The Sacramento Union.
19. (February 10, 1922). "Editor Dungan Leaves $16,000 For His Heirs". Woodland Daily Democrat.
20. (May 15, 1926). "Oroville Mercury Sold". The Record.
21. (August 30, 1926). "Former Publisher Will Become Student". The Sacramento Bee.
22. (June 2, 1927). "Farwell Brown, Oroville Publisher, Is Asphyxiated". The Union.
23. (September 24, 1927). "Oroville Register Is Sold to S. F. Men". The Modesto Bee.
24. (September 27, 1927). "Beebe Goes To Oroville Paper". The Modesto Bee.
25. Randolph, Charles. (December 11, 1982). "3 Influential Butte Newsmen Remembered". Oroville Mercury Register.
26. (January 14, 1983). "The Mercury Register Sold". Oroville Mercury Register.
27. (November 30, 1990). "Donrey buys Oroville Mercury-Register". Enterprise-Record.
28. (January 13, 1999). "MediaNews, Donrey merge newspapers". Record Searchlight.