The Santa Fe New Mexican

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

On November 28, 1849, E.T. Davies and W.E. Jones published the first edition of The New Mexican. A year later Ceran St. Vrain was listed as publisher.^[5] In 1863, Dr. Charles Lieb relaunched the paper, printed in both English and Spanish.^[6] He was soon succeeded by Charles P. Clever, followed by William H. Manderfield.^[7] In 1864, Thomas S. Tucker became a co-owner.^[8] In 1868, the paper was expanded from a weekly into a daily.^[9]

In 1881, E.B. Purcell bought the paper from Manderfield and Tucker.^[10] He discontinued it two years later.^[11][12] A week later W.H. Bailhache, owner of the Albuquerque Review, relocated his paper to Santa Fe and relaunched it as The New Mexican Review.^[13] After a month, Charles B. Hayward acquired the business switched the paper from a morning to an evening publication.^[14] He soon renamed it back to The New Mexican and in 1885 sold it to T.W. Collier.^[15] George Cross was hired as editor.^[16] In 1888, a fire damaged the paper's office and destroyed early issues of the paper.^[17]

In 1897, Cross retired and Col. Max Frost succeeded him.^[18] In 1909, Frost retired due to illness and was succeed by his assistant editor Paul A.F. Walter.^[19] He died later that year.^[20] Walter, along with Solomon Luna and Holm O. Bursum, owned stock in the business.^[5] In 1912, New York millionaire Bronson M. Cutting bought The New Mexican and hired former governor Miguel Antonio Otero as managing editor.^[21] After his death in 1935 from an airplane crash,^[22] his newspaper was willed to his secretary Jesus M. Baca.^[23] The paper was acquired by Oscar S. Stauffer in 1937,^[24] Frank C. Rand, Jr. in 1940,^[25] and Robert M. McKinney in 1948.^[26]

McKinney started a weekly paper in Taos called the Taos News in 1959,^[27] and years later merged his company with Gannett in 1976. The contract stipulated McKinney retained editorial and managerial control of The New Mexican.^[28] In April 1978, his daughter Robin McKinney Martin reacquired the Taos News from Gannett.^[29] In September 1978, McKinney sued Gannett for breach of contract, seeking $20 million, The New Mexican returned, or both.^[30]

In 1989, McKinney bought back the paper in exchange for his 800,000 in Gannett stock worth $33.5 million.^[31] In 2001, McKinney died,^[32] and his daughter Martin inherited his business.^[33] In 2011, the company acquired the Santa Fe Thrifty Nickel.^[34] In 2014, Martin was inducted into the New Mexico Press Association’s Hall of Fame.^[33] In 2015, The New Mexican was named "Daily Newspaper of the Year" (circulation under 30,000 category) by the Local Media Association, a national organization of television, newspaper and radio companies.^[35]

• Tony Hillerman, served as executive editor in the early 1950s and was a New York Times bestselling author.^[36]

Works related to The Santa Fe New Mexican at Wikisource

• List of newspapers in New Mexico