Everything you need to know about BJ: Part Two

This is Part Two from the booklet titled 'Everything you ever wanted to know and more about...The Beacon Journal." Part One was posted Friday. The 7.25 X 8-inch booklet was apparently printed about 1992, according to Ken Krause who noted that the circulation figures in the booklet jibed with circulation for that year. Keep that date in mind as you read this part. Another Pulitzer was added in 1994 for "A Question of Color" and much more has changed to make a rewrite of this BJ history necessary..

The History of Akron Beacon Journal Knight-Ridder, Inc.
The Knight-Ridder story is deeply based in the tradition of two dedicated and talented families.

The Knight group of newspapers began in 1903 with Charles Landon Knight's purchase of the Akron Beacon Journal.

Founded April 15, 1839 (The Summit Beacon).

Went from a weekly to daily publication, December 6, 1869.

In 1888, the paper moved into a building at the corner of Main and Mill Street.

In 1897, the Akron Journal and the Summit Beacon, which by now had changed ownership several times and had survived three fires, merged to become the Akron Beacon Journal. The first edition of the newspaper appeared on June 7, 1897.

In 1911, the Beacon Journal moved to the corner of East Market and Broadway where it continued to grow. A new modern plant was constructed on the corner of East Market and Summit Streets in 1927.
President Calvin Coolidge, in Washington, pressed a button to start the newspaper's presses on the first day of operations in the new building on October 10, 1927.

Upon c.L. Knight's death in 1933, John S. Knight succeeded as editor and publisher. He bought the Miami Herald in 1937, which was the start of a series of purchases making the Beacon Journal the flagship of one of the largest newspaper groups in daily circulation in the United States.

In 1938, he bought the Times-Press and moved the Beacon Journal operation into its plant at the corner of High and Exchange streets. This plant was expanded in 1954 with the new edition more than doubling overall space.

During the next 33 years, the Knights purchased 15 more newspapers and became a public corporation.

The Ridder group began in 1892 when Herman Ridder purchased the Staats-Zeitung, the leading German language newspaper in the U.S.

In 1926, Ridder Publications purchased The Journal of Commerce in New York and in 1927, The St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch. Subsequently, 13 papers were purchased. Ridder Publications went public in 1969.

In 1974, Knight Newspapers and Ridder Publications merged to form Knight-Ridder, Ine.

Today, the company is a worldwide communications and information company with 28 daily newspapers, cable TV operations, business services and other subsidiaries.

AWARDS Our company thrives because of its high standard of excellence.

The excellence of writing and editing has won the Beacon Journal a number of honors.

Collectively, Knight-Ridder professionals have won 57 Pulitzer Prizes, the highest honor in American Journalism.

The Beacon Journal itself has won three Pulitzer Prizes for the following:

John S. Knight won a Pulitzer Prize in 1968 for his "Editor's Notebook," a weekly column he wrote for nearly 40 years.

The Beacon Journal won another Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Kent State University shootings on May 4,1970.

Then in 1987, another Pulitzer Prize was won for coverage of the attempted takeover of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.

Our news, photo and art departments have won numerous other industry awards, including the top excellence awards in statewide competitions.