On Nov. 13, 1886, the first edition of the Paso Robles Leader was published.[1][2] In 1915, L.B. Lawrence started the Paso Robles Press.[3] He bought the Paso Robles Record in 1918,[4] and the Paso Robles Leader from H.G. Wright in 1919. Both papers were absorbed into the Press.[2] Lawrence sold the Press in 1921 to A.B. Butterworth, former owner of the Pittsburgh Dispatch.[5] He sold it back to Lawrence in 1922.[6]
At some point Griffin Smith, acquired the paper. In 1925, he sold it to George N. Weaver.[7] Three years later the paper was sold again by Fred J. Smith and Fred W. Smith to Donald D. Campbell.[8] In 1930, Campbell petitioned the government to un-adjudicate a rival paper after it changed its name from The Spotlight to the Paso Robles Spotlight, arguing they were two different papers.[9] A year later the Spotlight closed and Campbell purchased its subscription list.[10]
In 1956, Fred. E. Weybret, owner of the La Grande Observer, purchased the newspaper from Thomas J. Barry,[11][12] and he sold it three years later to Arthur C. Youngberg.[13] In 1966, James J. McGiffin, editor of the Red Bluff Daily News, acquired the Press.[14] It was sold a year later to Ben Reddick.[15]
In 1996, Central Valley Publishing Inc., an affiliate of USMedia Group of Crystal City, Missouri, bought the Press from the Reddick family. At the time it had a circulation of 5,000.[16] In April 2000, the paper eliminated its Friday edition.[17] In 2002, News Media Corporation acquired the Atascadero News and Paso Robles Press,[18] and sold both papers in 2019 to Nicholas and Hayley Mattson.[19]
