Los Banos Enterprise

The Los Banos Enterprise was founded in March 1891 by Pete H. Higgins.^[5] He sold the paper in May 1891 to Carlos O. Freeman.^[6][7] Frank S. Smith bought the paper in 1896.^[8] A few years later the Enterprise was owned and operated by Willard Beebe.^[9] He bought the Colton News in 1903^[10] and then leased the Enterprise to his brother Gilbert J. Beebe,^[11] who ran the paper for two years until his death from erysipelas in 1905.^[12][13] Fred S. Walker then became the owner. In 1906, he bought the Los Banos Advance and absorbed it into his paper.^[14][15] Walker sold the paper in 1908 to Leo H. Bowen and Milam G. Coats.^[16][17]

Mrs. Hazel Bowen took over management in February 1910.^[18] She bought the paper that April,^[19] and sold it a few days later.^[20] The new owner of the Enterprise was Bert A. Wilson.^[21] In 1915, Wilson was named post master of Los Banos. Needing to commit attention to his new position, Wilson leased the Enterprise to M.P. Lewis, who had been a foreman in the mechanical department of the paper. W.S. Walker became editor of the paper at that time.^[22] Wilson retained ownership of the Enterprise until 1944, when he sold it to Frank Merrick and Floyd R. Melvin.^[23]

In 1963, W.J. McGiffin Newspapers bought the paper from Merrick and Melvin and named J. Frank Knebel as publisher.^[24] The company later renamed itself to Brehm Communications and the Enterprise was managed by its subsidiary San Luis Publishing Co., Inc.^[25] In 1984, the subsidiary was sold to Lesher Communications, owner of the Merced Sun-Star.^[26] In 1995, Lesher sold the Enterprise to USAMedia Group Inc., based in Crystal City, Missouri.^[27] The company's name was changed five years later to Pacific Sierra Publishing Company.^[28] In 2003, McClatchy purchased the Enterprise, along with the Merced Sun-Star and four other non-dailies, from Pacific Sierra.^[3] In 2022, McClatchy sold the Enterprise to Michael Braa.^[4]