| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner | Gannett |
| Founder | T.G. Nicklin |
| Founded | 1910 |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | 2017 |
| Headquarters | Barstow, California |
| Website | desertdispatch |
The Desert Dispatch was a newspaper published in Barstow, California, from 1910 to 2017.
On July 15, 1910, T.G. Nicklin published the first edition of the Barstow Printer. [1] Nicklin sold the paper in 1912 to F.M. LaSage. [2]
In 1933, R.E. Forbush started the Barstow Weekly Review. [3] In October 1936, Caryl Krouser purchased the Barstow Printer from Lloyd E. Tiernan, who operated the paper for two decades. [4] That November, Krouser and Forbush merged their papers to form the Barstow Printer-Review. [3]
On July 3, 1958, Charles K. Dooley, owner of the Colton Courier, published the first edition of the Desert Dispatch in Barstow. [5] [6] In October 1958, Courier Enterprises, owned by Dooley, acquired the Barstow Printer-Review from Caryl Krouser and absorbed it into the Dispatch. [7] In October 1959, the paper expanded print editions to five days a week. [8] At that time it had a circulation of 30,000. A new press was installed in 1964. [9]
In 1978, Dooley sold the paper to Thomson Newspapers, [10] who traded it in 1995 to Freedom Communications. [11] As of 2011, newspaper had a daily circulation of 3,259. [12] In 2014, Freedom sold the Dispatch and Victorville Daily Press to New Media Investment Group. [13] In 2017, the paper ceased. [14]