Chicago Inter Ocean

Chicago Inter Ocean

1883 Advertisement for editions of theInter Ocean
Founded	1865 (as theChicago Republican)
Ceased publication	1914(1914)
Headquarters	Chicago

TheChicago Inter Ocean,also known as theChicago Inter-Ocean,is the name used for most of its history by a newspaper published inChicago, Illinois,from 1865 until 1914. Its editors includedCharles A. DanaandByron Andrews.

History

Founding

The paper can be traced to 1865 with the founding of theChicago Republican,a newspaper supporting theRepublican party.Jacob Bunn,a prominent Illinois financier and industrialist, was the principal founder, and at one time the sole owner, of the Chicago Republican Company; he cooperated with several other Illinois financiers to establish theRepublican.After both success and the chaos of the 1871Chicago Fire,the paper was relaunched in 1872 as the Chicago-basedInter Ocean,intended to appeal to upscale readers.William Penn Nixonbecame president and editor-in-chief of theInter Oceanin 1876 and remained until his death in 1912.

Growth

Building occupied by theInter Oceanfrom 1890 until 1901

With the building oftranscontinental railroads,it was possible to deliver periodical newspapers bymailthroughout the central and western U.S. TheInter Oceandeveloped a family of semi-weekly, weekly and Sunday editions that were intended to become a definitive source of news for businesspeople throughout the American West, and in fact fulfilled that role for several decades.

The growth oflinotypenewspapers printed on inexpensivenewsprintin the 1890s led to another upheaval in the newspaper industry. Many non-Chicago subscribers to theInter Oceanno longer needed the weekly paper and dropped their subscriptions.

The weakened paper fell in 1895 into the hands ofCharles Yerkes,the notorious Chicago streetcar boss, who returned the newspaper to the partisan, subordinate role it had fulfilled in its youth.George Wheeler Hinmanbought a controlling interest in the paper in 1906 and sold it toH. H. Kohlsaatin 1912.

Demise

The paper stopped publication in 1914.Hinman bought back the paper at a receiver's sale in May 1914 (which came about because Kolhsaat had failed to pay the balance owed on a note used to purchase the paper) and immediately sold it toJames Keeley,then general manager of theChicago Tribune,who also bought theChicago Record Heraldat the same time.Readers decided that Keeley's new consolidated newspaper should be namedThe Chicago Herald,which name it held until it was bought byWilliam Randolph Hearst'sChicago Examinerin 1918. This further consolidation created theChicago Herald-Examiner.

Locations

TheInter Oceanwas published in four locations during its existence.

From 1873 to 1880, it stood at 119 Lake Street, under the old Chicago street numbering.

From 1880 to 1890 it stood at 85 West Madison. In 1889Adler & Sullivandesigned a steel-framed building to be constructed on the small lot at the NWC of Madison and Deaborn, connected to the adjoining five-story Dearborn Building (1872–73) that sat behind, and with a distinctive corner clock-spire. The spire was removed sometime before the building’s demolition. The Inter-Ocean Building was converted into the Hotel Grant around 1895, when theInter-Oceannewspaper was sold to traction magnateCharles Yerkes.The Grant was considered a second-class hotel. That building was razed in either 1940 or 1941.

The paper's final home was a three-story headquarters built at 57 W. Monroe, completed in 1901 to designs byWilliam Carbys Zimmerman.This building ultimately became the Monroe Theater, which was razed in 1977.

Notable people

• Eunice Gibbs Allyn
• Alice Hobbins Porter
• H. T. Webster

External links

• Media related toChicago Inter Oceanat Wikimedia Commons