In late 1958, Barry O'Connor and Orville E. Danforth left the Lynwood Weekly Reporter and launched a rival paper called The Enterprise. It was distributed for free in south Snohomish County, Washington.[1] The new paper was first published on September 12, 1958, serving Edmonds and Lynnwood. A Mountlake Terrace edition was added in late 1958, followed by editions for northern King County communities in the 1970s that were later cancelled.[2]
Simeon R. Wilson III, their former employer and owner of the Marysville Globe, sought a court injunction to stop O'Connor and Danforth from soliciting ads, claiming they started The Enterprise before they quit and were using his accounts and confidential information.[3] A judge denied Wilson's request for a restraining order.[4] Wilson then amended his lawsuit, now seeking $150,000 in damages.[5][6]
In 1964, O'Connor and Danforth sold the paper.[7] In 1965, Frank H. Beaver became editor, and then died a year later from injuries he sustained from a fight at a party. He was age 43.[8][9] Around this time, The Enterprise was sold to the Lafromboise family, who also operated The Chronicle in Centralia.[2] The Lafromboises also purchased the Edmonds Tribune-Review, which had been founded in 1910.[10] The newspaper added a new edition to serve Mill Creek in the 1980s. It was sold again to The Everett Herald in 1996, where it absorbed Shoreline Week to produce a new edition.[2] The four editions were consolidated into a single edition in 2009 and renamed to The Weekly Herald two years later.[11][12] The Weekly Herald ceased publication on August 29, 2012, after failing to meet revenue expectations.[12]
