Santa Cruz Sentinel

History

On June 2, 1855, John McElroy published the first edition of the Monterey Sentinel in Monterey, California. McElroy was an Ohioan who fought in the Mexican–American War. He had worked at other papers in Los Angeles and Placerville before starting one of his own. After a year in business, McElroy was approached by Albion Jordan, who co-owned a lime manufacturer. Jordan offered to freely move the printing plant to Santa Cruz and McElroy accepted. The press was transported aboard a schooner named "Queen of the West."

The Monterey Sentinel relocated in May 1856. The first issue of the new Pacific Sentinel was published in Santa Cruz on June 14, 1856. At that time the paper had 89 paid subscribers in a county of 1,219 persons. The paper's name was later changed for a third time to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. McElroy published the paper with several different partners over the following eight years including Duncan McPherson.** The McPherson family would own and operate the paper for 118 years.

In 1982, the Sentinel merged with Ottaway Community Newspapers, a division of Dow Jones & Company. In October 2006, Dow Jones sold the paper to Community Newspaper Holdings. On February 2, 2007, the Sentinel was sold again to MediaNews Group. The MediaNews Group formed Digital First Media in 2013 when it merged with Journal Register Company. The company is controlled by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital.

References

References

1. "Bay Area News Group Market Book".
2. "Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, Ca) 2000-Current".
3. (2021-05-21). "'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers".
4. (June 2, 1855). "Monterey Sentinel.". The Placer Herald.
5. (June 2, 1855). "Vol. 1, No.1". Monterey Sentinel.
6. (June 17, 1956). "Sentinel Is 100 Years Old". Santa Cruz Sentinel.
7. (May 30, 1856). "Newspaper Removal.". The Nevada Journal.
8. (May 31, 1856). "Notice". The Empire County Argus.
9. (June 21, 1856). "New California Paper". Chico Weekly Chronicle-Record.
10. (June 17, 1956). "Sentinel Is 100 Years Old". Santa Cruz Sentinel.
11. (16 June 2023). "Supervisor Bruce McPherson to retire at end of third term". Santa Cruz Sentinel.
12. (April 13, 1982). "The Sentinel, Ottaway Newspapers Merge". Santa Cruz Sentinel.
13. (October 31, 2006). "Dow Jones to sell Traverse City newspaper, five others". The Bay City Times.
14. (November 1, 2006). "CNHI to acquire 6 dailies from Dow Jones".
15. (February 3, 2007). "MediaNews buys Santa Cruz Sentinel". El Paso Times.
16. (February 2, 2007). "MediaNews Group, Inc. acquires Santa Cruz Sentinel".