The Minnesota Pioneer, Minnesota's first newspaper and a forerunner of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, was founded in 1849. The St. Paul Dispatch newspaper was begun in 1868. The Dispatch Printing Company (DPC) was formed in 1885 when George Thompson purchased the Dispatch newspaper. The DPC bought the Pioneer Press in 1909, and ran the two newspapers separately. Charles K. Blandin was hired as business manager for the DPC at around that time, and became a small shareholder. In 1916 the DPC bought the Itasca Paper Company, in order to control the newspapers' source of newsprint. Thompson died in 1917, and Blandin bought a controlling interest in the DPC from Thompson's widow Abigail. In 1923 Abigail Thompson died, and Blandin acquired her shares as well. In 1923 he reorganized the DPC into the Dispatch and Pioneer Press Company, and shifted legal incorporation from Minnesota to Delaware. Ridder Publications acquired the morning Pioneer Press and the evening Dispatch from Charles K. Blandin in 1927. After the sale, Blandin changed the name of the Dispatch and Pioneer Press Company to the Blandin Development Company. At that point, the Blandin Development Company was the parent corporation of the Blandin Paper Company, and was the owner of all of its stock.
The Pioneer Press and Dispatch newspapers merged in 1985 and became a morning-only daily in 1990 known as the St. Paul Pioneer Press ; its primary circulation area included St. Paul and Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties in Minnesota, and other areas of eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. The paper was owned by Northwest Publications, a subsidiary of Miami-based Knight-Ridder, Inc.
From the guide to the Historical materials., 1862-2001 (bulk 1862-1948)., (Minnesota Historical Society)
