''The Dallas Dispatch'' was a daily evening newspaper published in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, United States from 1906 until it was combined with the evening ''Dallas Journal'' in 1938 to create ''The Dallas Dispatch-Journal'', the name of which was shortened to ''The Dallas Journal'' in 1939 and which ceased publication in 1942. The ''Dispatch'' began publication on September 17, 1906 with a four-page issue. (It presumably was not related to an earlier ''Dallas Dispatch'', which had gone out of business in July 1894.) The paper was owned by the
Scripps-McRae Association

Alfred O. Andersson Alfred Oscar Andersson (1874–1950) was the publisher of the '' Dallas Dispatch'' and, briefly, of the ''Dallas Dispatch-Journal'', daily afternoon newspapers of general circulation published in Dallas, Texas. Growing up and career Andersson ...

was its first editor and H. J. Richmond its first business manager. Andersson was its publisher for most of the newspaper’s existence, and Lewis W. Bailey was its editor for many years. Andersson retired as publisher in March 1937 without relinquishing his ownership interest, and in June 1938 he formed The Dispatch-Journal Publishing Company with

Karl Hoblitzelle Karl Hoblitzelle (October 22, 1879 – March 8, 1967) was an American theater owner, real estate investor, and philanthropist. He was the co-founder of the Interstate Theaters Company, a chain of vaudeville theaters (later movie theaters), now a s ...

and John Moroney to acquire the ''Dispatch'' and another evening newspaper
''The Dallas Journal''
which had been a sister publication of ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

''. The resulting ''Dallas Dispatch-Journal'' was published six evenings a week with no Sunday edition. The ''Dispatch'' lived on as part of the new publication’s name until December 1939, when James M. West Sr. of Houston acquired control and shortened the name to ''The Dallas Journal''. The ''Dispatch'' campaigned for an emergency hospital, the cleaning up of criminal law enforcement, and new franchises for city utilities. It gave more attention to crime news than did its competition and "probably set some kind of record with extra editions." It was said that it would "print anything a reporter was big enough to sign his name to," and that that once included using "ass" (referring to a

donkey The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...

) in a headline, turning that edition into a collector’s item. ''Dispatch'' employees included James F. Chambers Jr., a sports and crime reporter who became president and publisher of ''The Dallas Times-Herald'', and

Ralph Hall Ralph Moody Hall (May 3, 1923 – March 7, 2019) was an American politician who served as the United States representative for from 1981 to 2015. He was first elected in United States House elections, 1980, 1980, and was the chairman of the Uni ...

, who served in the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate ...

and later the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

until 2015.

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