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''The Dispatch–Argus'' is a daily morning
newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
in
Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...
, and circulated primarily throughout the Illinois side of the
Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of five cities (originally Tri-Cities, later four, see #History, History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport, Iowa, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Bettendorf (the fifth to be included) in southeaster ...
— Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and
Rock Island County Rock Island County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois, bounded on the west by the Mississippi River. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 144,672. Its county seat is Rock Island; its largest city is neighboring ...
, but also for sale in retail establishments on the Iowa side of the Quad Cities —
Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality *Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta **District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...
and Bettendorf. ''The Dispatch'' is circulated in and around Moline while ''The Rock Island Argus'' is circulated in and around that city. The two are essentially the same newspaper, only with different front covers. They have a combined circulation of about 25,000. The newspapers were owned by the Small Newspaper Group, located in
Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. Located on the Kankakee River, as of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley, IL MSA, Kan ...
, until 2017, when Davenport-based
Lee Enterprises Lee Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded American media company. It publishes 72 daily newspapers in 25 states, and more than 350 weekly, classified, and specialty publications. Lee Enterprises was founded in 1890 by Alfred Wilson Lee and is b ...
bought the paper and its assets.


History


''Rock Island Argus''

The ''Argus'', founded in Rock Island, is one of Illinois' oldest continuously published newspapers. It can trace its origin to 1851 with the founding of a weekly paper called ''The Republican''. It became Rock Island County's first daily two years later after it was purchased by Colonel J.B. Danforth. Because Danforth was a staunch member of the Democratic Party he had the paper's name changed to the ''Rock Island Argus''. The newspaper was purchased by John Potter in 1882 when the paper had 500 subscribers. He died in 1898 and his wife Minnie took over the management of the paper and ran it until her death. In 1925 she had the newspaper plant built on Fourth Avenue in Rock Island. The Potter family operated the newspaper until 1986, when it was bought by the Small Newspaper Group. In November 1932, the Potters bought Rock Island's first radio station, WHBF, later WKBF. Eventually, that station spawned an FM station (now
WLKU WLKU is a radio station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, with a Christian contemporary format. The station's frequency is 98.9 MHz, and broadcasts at an effective radiated power of 39,000 watts, from a transmitter located near Orion, I ...
) and a television station (still operating under the
WHBF-TV WHBF-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Quad Cities area. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Burlington, Iowa–licensed CW owned-and-operat ...
calls). In 1953, the
International Typographical Union The International Typographical Union (ITU) was a North American trade union for the printing trade of newspapers and other media. It was founded on May 3, 1852, in the United States as the National Typographical Union. It changed its name to the ...
held a strike. After a seven-month strike, on July 9, bombs went off beneath the cars of two ''Argus'' employees, destroying property and slightly injuring an infant.Reward of $3,000 Is Posted by Argus for Arrests in Bombings.
''The Rock Island Argus,'' July 9, 1953, p.1.
Five union men were eventually charged with the bombings. The Potters sold the ''Argus'' to the Small family in 1986. Issues for years 1862–1922 have been digitized and are available for free online at both the
Chronicling America ''Chronicling America'' is an open access, open source newspaper database and companion website. It is produced by the United States National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowm ...
and the University of Illinois Library websites.


''Daily Dispatch''

The first issue of the ''Moline Daily Evening Dispatch'' was produced on July 31, 1878.Collins, p. 263. It was started by Oliver and Louise White, who were publishers of ''The Molly Stark'', a weekly newspaper in
Toulon, Illinois Toulon is a city and the county seat of Stark County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,292 at the 2010 census. Toulon is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the northwestern terminus of the Rock Isl ...
. Competition forced them to sell the paper to Patterson S. McGlynn and John K. Groom. In the early to mid-20th century the paper was under the leadership of Harry Sward, Lee R. Blackman and August Sundine. Under Sward's leadership the paper's identity changed from one focused on Moline to Western Illinois and it became ''The Daily Dispatch''. ''The Daily Dispatch'' was purchased by Len H. Small on February 28, 1969, and the newspaper then started the conversion from the “hot metal” method of composition to computerized photocomposition. The plant was expanded in 1974 and the first Sunday edition of the paper was published on March 14, 1976.


''Dispatch–Argus''

From 1986 onward, Small Newspaper Group gradually cut back the local operations of the ''Argus'' and consolidated most of its business and editorial operations with those of ''The Dispatch''. By the 1990s, the two newspapers' content was virtually identical, the only difference being the mastheads. In 1995 both papers switched from evening to morning publication. ''Quad-Cities Online'' has been operated by the papers since 1994. It provides local online news, weather, sports and event information and has grown to include an online auction; QCHomes.com, a service for buying or selling real estate; and opportunities for banner, email and mobile advertising. Lee Enterprises announced on June 19, 2017, that it had reached an agreement with the Small Newspaper Group to purchase ''The Dispatch–Argus'' and its assets. This made the ''Dispatch'' and ''Argus'' sister publications to Lee's flagship title, the ''
Quad-City Times The ''Quad-City Times'' is a daily morning newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa, and circulated throughout the Quad Cities metropolitan area, including Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, Rock Island, an ...
,'' which has long been the major newspaper on the Iowa side of the Quad Cities. While the ''Dispatch-Argus'' will maintain a separate
editorial voice An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine, that expresses the publication's opinion about a ...
, it will share a publisher with the ''Times'' and ''
Muscatine Journal The ''Muscatine Journal'' serves 8,000 adult readers in Muscatine and Louisa counties, in Iowa, United States, and is delivered to nearly 3,500 homes, Monday through Saturday. ''Hometown Extra'', its sister shopper publication, is delivered ev ...
''.


''The Leader''

From 1986 through 2007, a weekly
total market coverage A total market coverage, or TMC, is a piece of advertising that reaches all households in a market. Traditionally in most of North America newspapers provided total market coverage, as almost all households would subscribe to the main local paper. A ...
newspaper called ''The Leader'' circulated in
Scott County, Iowa Scott County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 174,669, making it the third-most populous county in Iowa. The county seat is Davenport, Io ...
, location of
Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality *Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta **District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...
. Distributed on Thursdays, the newspaper contained re-printed content from the ''Dispatch'' and ''Argus'', plus exclusive features and hard news stories from Davenport and the Iowa side of the Quad Cities.


References


External links

*
Illinois Press Association The Small Newspaper GroupChronicling America: About the Evening ArgusIllinois Digital Newspaper Collections: The Rock Island Argus (1889–1915)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dispatch-Rock Island Argus, The Newspapers published in Illinois Newspapers published in the Quad Cities The Small Newspaper Group Moline, Illinois Rock Island, Illinois Lee Enterprises publications Daily newspapers published in the United States