Suburban World Newspapers, based in

Needham, Massachusetts Needham ( ) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 32,091 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census. It is the home of Olin College. History ...

, United States, was a privately owned publisher of seven

weekly newspaper Weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspap ...

s in the

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

s west of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the 1980s and 1990s. The ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American conservative daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarde ...

'' bought the company in 2001 and dissolved it into

Community Newspaper Company Community Newspaper Company, or CNC, was the largest publisher of weekly newspapers in eastern Massachusetts in the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century. It also published several daily newspapers in Greater Boston. The company's proper ...

, the largest weeklies publisher in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. After the sale, Suburban World's two youngest newspapers were closed, while the others remain part of CNC, now owned by

GateHouse Media GateHouse Media Inc. was an American publisher of locally based print and digital media. It published 144 daily newspapers, 684 community publications, and over 569 local-market websites in 38 states. Its parent company, New Media Investment Group ...

History

Newspaper publisher William Barrett founded Suburban World in 1978 after purchasing four newspapers in towns west of

. Suburban World's success caused Barrett to expand twice, adding papers in Westwood in 1987 and in Millis and

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

in 1995.Gatlin, Greg. "Herald Media Buys 7 Suburban Weeklies". ''Boston Herald'', February 16, 2001. By contrast, the papers he bought in 1978 all had deep community roots: the

Natick Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...

newspaper had been founded in 1865; two more dated from the early 20th century, and the youngest had been founded in 1956.Bruins Stars and Newspaper Chain Support 17th Run of the Charles
. ''Streamer'' (Newsletter of the Charles River Watershed Association, Weston, Mass.), page 4, Spring 1999. Accessed August 16, 2007. The newspapers developed a reputation for quality. Kirk Davis, who oversaw Suburban World's competitors in his role as publisher of

, said Suburban World did "an outstanding job, in some instances a better job than we were doing". In 2001, Barrett, 56, decided to sell his newspapers for an undisclosed amount of money to his longtime competitor, which had long expressed an interest in buying Suburban World. The deal came shortly after CNC had been sold to the ''

''. The move filled some gaps in CNC's coverage map, but also set up conflicts with previous CNC papers, notably the former

MetroWest MetroWest is a cluster of cities and towns lying west of Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financia ...

''Tab'' newspapers. Eventually, the competing ''Tabs'' were closed and the Suburban World papers—most of which had decades-long histories in their communities, whereas the ''Tabs'' dated from the 1990s—remain in CNC today. Two Suburban World papers were closed, however, prompting some reader backlash in Millis and

. Subscribers of the papers complained about a loss of local focus when CNC decided, soon after the sale, to fold them into the ''Country Gazette'', a regional paper based in nearby

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

.Herald/CNC Given a PR Lesson at April PRSA Program
. ''News & Views'' (Newsletter of PRSA Boston), page 2, May 2001. Accessed August 16, 2007.

Properties

At the time of its sale to CNC in February 2001, Suburban World Newspapers consisted of the following titles, with a total weekly circulation of 26,000: * ''Dover-Sherborn Press'' of

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

and Sherborn (founded 1956) * ''Medfield Press'' of

Medfield Medfield is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,799 according to the 2020 United States Census. It is a community about southwest of Boston, Massachusetts, which is a 40-minute drive to Downtown Bost ...

(founded 1922) * ''Millis Press'' of Millis (founded 1995; closed 2001) * ''Natick Bulletin'' of

(founded 1865) * ''Needham Times'' of Needham (founded 1932) * ''Norfolk Press'' of

(founded 1995; closed 2001) * ''Westwood Press'' of Westwood (founded 1987) The Dover-Sherborn, Natick and Needham papers are still published as part of

in CNC's Metro Unit; the Medfield and Westwood papers are in the West Unit.

References

{{CNC MetroWest Newspapers published in Massachusetts Defunct newspaper companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Massachusetts