''The Florida Times-Union'' is a daily

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 ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, United States. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the ''Florida Union'' in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when the ''Florida Union'' merged with another Jacksonville paper, the ''Florida Daily Times''. In 1983,

Morris Communications Morris Communications, headquartered in Augusta, Georgia, is a privately held media company with diversified holdings that include magazine publishing, outdoor advertising, book publishing and distribution, visitor publications, and online serv ...

Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

, purchased Florida Publishing Company. ''The Times-Union'' became the largest newspaper of this chain, which owns a number of newspapers around the country. The paper is now owned by

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

. Its editor is Paul Runnestrand.

History

In 1864, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, J. K. Stickney and W. C. Morrill published the first edition of the ''Florida Union''. It was a

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

and Republican paper, at the time when Jacksonville was occupied by the Union Army. By 1867, Stickney sold the ''Florida Union'' to Edward M. Cheney, 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 ...

. Cheney tried to make the paper into a daily publication but lacked the needed money. The ''Union'' was sold to Walton, Fowle & Co. in 1873. Stockholder C. F. Mawbey assumed control and turned the ''Union'' into a daily publication. Cheney returned to the ''Union'' as an editor. In 1876, the ''Union'' was in decline and abandoned daily publication. Financially doomed, it was sold to H. B. McCallum, who then returned it to daily publication and converted it from an afternoon to a morning paper. Charles H. Jones wanted to buy the ''Union'' but was refused by McCallum. Annoyed, Jones started a rival paper, the ''Florida Daily Times'', in November 1881. By 1883, the ''Daily Times'' was dominating the ''Union''. McCallum became ill and finally decided to sell the paper to the ''Daily Times''. The ''Union'' then combined with the ''Daily Times'' to form ''The Florida Times-Union'', whose first edition was published on February 4, 1883. The paper was partisan and worked to promote railroad interests. The ''Daily Times'' was reporting on election related violence in 1882. On February 11, 2018, ''The Florida Times-Union'' printed its last papers in Jacksonville after 154 years. ''The Florida Times-Union'' newspapers are now printed at ''

The Gainesville Sun ''The Gainesville Sun'' () is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. History The paper was founded in July 1876 as the ''Gainesville Times'', by brothers E. M. and ...

'' and ''

The Daytona Beach News-Journal ''The Daytona Beach News-Journal'' is a Florida daily newspaper serving Volusia and Flagler Counties. It grew from the ''Halifax Journal'', which was started in 1883. The Davidson family purchased the newspaper in 1928 and retained control un ...

'', which are both 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 ...

. On April 1, 2019, ''The Florida Times-Union'' moved to the Wells Fargo building at 1 Independent Drive, Suite 200 in downtown Jacksonville. File:FloridaTimesUnion1880s.jpg, ''The Florida Times-Union'' (far right) in the 1880s File:FTUPressroom1911.jpg, The pressroom in 1911 File:FTU1972.jpg, The Florida Times Union employees using linotype machines in 1972 File:Ftuhq.jpeg, The offices of ''The Florida Times-Union'' from 1967 to 2019

Ownership

For most of the 20th century, ''The Florida Times-Union'' was owned by the Florida Publishing Company, which was in turn jointly owned by the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967, it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast ...

, the

Florida East Coast Railway The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a p ...

, and the

Seaboard Air Line Railway The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...

, the three main railroads serving Jacksonville, having been acquired in equal shares by them or their corporate predecessors about 1896. The Coast Line and the Seaboard merged in 1967 as the

Seaboard Coast Line The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate li ...

, which evolved into

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

; the Florida East Coast has maintained its corporate identity into the 21st century. Both railroads have their headquarters in Jacksonville, the railroad hub of the state. In 1983

, acquired the Florida Publishing Company for $200 million. In October 2017

acquired the ''Times-Union'' from Morris Communications, in conjunction with numerous other papers across the country, for $120 million. GateHouse merged with Gannett in 2019; while GateHouse was the nominal survivor, the merged company took the better-known Gannett name.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Florida Times-Union, The 1864 establishments in Florida Brooklyn, Jacksonville Companies based in Jacksonville, Florida Modernist architecture in Jacksonville, Florida Mass media in Jacksonville, Florida Gannett publications Newspapers published in Florida Newspapers established in 1864

History

Ownership

See also

References

External links