Great Falls Tribune

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Great Falls Tribune
Great Falls Tribune 1887.png
May 18, 1887, issue of the Great Falls Tribune
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner Gannett
FounderWill Hanks
Founded1884
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters701 River Drive South #1
Great Falls, Montana, United States
City Helena, Montana (publishing)
Website greatfallstribune.com

The Great Falls Tribune is a daily morning newspaper covering Great Falls, Montana. It is one of Montana's largest newspaper companies and printed in Helena, Montana.

Contents

History

Will Hanks moved from Ohio to Montana to establish the Sun River Sun in Sun River, Montana. [1] It was first published on February 14, 1884. [2] A year later Hanks moved his printing plant to Great Falls, Montana. [1] The first edition of the Weekly Tribune was printed on May 14, 1885. [3] Hanks sold the Tribune in July 1887 to Jerry Collins. [4] [1]

In 1890, David Marks and M.J. Hutchins, of the Helena Independent, purchased the Tribune. [5] J.A. McKnight was installed as editor in 1892. [6] A year later the paper was sold to its employees and McKnight was replaced by R.E. Gray. [7] The paper's mortgage was soon foreclosed and the business was sold at auction for $5,000 to A.M. Scott of First National bank in July 1894. [8] Phil A. Julien was then installed as editor. [9]

William McClure Bole purchased the paper in December 1894, [10] and operated it with Oliver Sherman Warden until selling it to William A. Clark in 1900. [11] McClure then operated the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. [12] Clark sold the paper to W.G. Conrad in October 1904. [13] McClure and Warden reacquired the Tribune in April 1905. [13]

McClure died in 1932. [12] Warden died in 1951, [14] [15] then succeeded at the Tribune by his son Alexander Warden. [16] Decades later O.C. Warden was inducted into the Montana Newspaper Hall of Fame in 1958, [17] followed by W.M. Bole in 1963. [18] The Warden family sold the paper in 1965 to Tribune Co., owners of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. [19] Decades later the Cowles Media Company sold the Tribune to Gannett. [20]

The Tribune launched a subsidiary company, River's Edge Printing in 2006; the latter printed for weekly newspapers on a Goss Community press. [21] In July 2020, printing of the Great Falls Tribune moved to the presses of the Independent Record in Helena. [22]

Awards

The Great Falls Tribune won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting in 2000 for a yearlong series on alcoholism. [23]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Will Hanks". Great Falls Weekly Leader. September 10, 1890. p. 4.
  2. "Our Bow". Sun River Sun. February 14, 1884. p. 2.
  3. "Great Falls". Great Falls Tribune. May 14, 1885. p. 3.
  4. "Jerry Collins". The Independent-Record. Helena, Montana. August 24, 1887. p. 4.
  5. "The Tribune Sold". The Great Falls Leader. October 8, 1890. p. 1.
  6. "Notice". The Teton Times. Choteau, Montana. September 3, 1892. p. 2.
  7. "Notice". The Teton Times. Choteau, Montana. August 26, 1893. p. 2.
  8. "News Of The State". The Anaconda Recorder and New Northwest. July 6, 1894. p. 4.
  9. "Much Improved". Great Falls Tribune. August 14, 1894. p. 2.
  10. "Changes Hands". Belt Valley Times. Armington, Montana. January 17, 1895. p. A8.
  11. "Cut For A New Deal | Great Falls Tribune Sold to Clark, Much to the Dissatisfaction of Some Democrats". The Great Falls Leader. Great Falls, Montana. May 11, 1900. p. 4.
  12. 1 2 "W.M. Bole Rites To Be Thursday | Death Comes Suddenly for Noted Montana Editor". The Butte Daily Post. October 11, 1932. p. 12.
  13. 1 2 "Great Falls Tribune Sold". The Minneapolis Journal. April 7, 1905. p. 2.
  14. "O.S. Warden, 85, Publisher of Tribune, Dies at Home". Great Falls Tribune. March 12, 1951. p. 1.
  15. "OLIVER WARDEN, 85, PUBLISHER IN WEST; Head of Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune, Leader in State Reclamation Work, Dies". The New York Times. Associated Press. March 13, 1951. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved October 23, 2025.
  16. "Alexander Warden Is Named Publisher of Great Falls Tribune". Livingston Enterprise. Associated Press. June 12, 1951. p. 6.
  17. "Four State Newspapermen Picked for Hall of Fame". Great Falls Tribune. Associated Press. August 17, 1958. p. 1.
  18. "Late W.M. Bole to Hall of Fame". Hungry Horse News. Columbia Falls, Montana. August 30, 1963. p. 7.
  19. "Great Falls Tribune To Minneapolis Newspaper". The Montana Standard. Butte, Montana. Associated Press. April 11, 1965. p. 1.
  20. "'Great Falls Tribune' joins the fold". USA Today. May 3, 1990. p. 7.
  21. Flowers, Darryl L. "Great Falls Tribune's Presses To Go Silent In July". Fairfield Sun Times. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  22. Independent Record and Associated Press. "Great Falls Tribune to be printed in Helena starting July 1". Helena Independent Record. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  23. Barringer, Felicity; Wakin, Daniel J. (April 11, 2000). "Pulitzer Prizes Announced". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2025.