History
In 1862, Robert Johnson Steele, a newspaper publisher who fought in the Mexican–American War as part of the 1st Mississippi Rifles, [2] and his wife Rowena Granice Steele published the first newspaper in Merced County called the Merced Banner. The paper operated for two years until Union soldiers destroyed it in 1864. [3] A year later P.D. Wigginton and J.W. Robertson established the Weekly Merced Herald. The Democratic paper was politically Copperhead. [4] The Steeles returned to Snelling in 1868 to revive the Herald after it ceased. [5] R.J. Steele relaunched the paper on August 28, 1869 as the San Joaquin Valley Argus, writing the Herald had "died by termination of contract." [6]
The Argus relocated to Merced on April 5, 1873, after the county seat was moved to that city. [3] A mob destroyed the paper's office in December 1874 after R.J. Steele's stepson, Harry Hale Granice, fatally shot Edward Madden, editor of the Merced Tribune. [7] [8] The Argus then went on hiatus from Dec. 5, 1874 to March 5, 1875. [3] Granice wrote a booklet on the shooting while in jail called "Hunted Down; or, Five Days in the Fog." [9] [10] He was founded guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, [11] but the California Supreme Court granted him a new trial. [12] A jury convicted him a second time, but the supreme court reversed the decision and released Granice, [13] who went on to buy the Sonoma Index. [14]
A rival paper was launched on June 17, 1880, called the Merced Star. It was founded by brothers Thomas and Charles Harris. [15] [3] The Steeles launched a daily edition called the Merced Daily Argus on Oct. 4, 1886. [3] Mr. Steele died in January 1890. [2] Mrs. Steele retired in June 1890, leaving their son Lee R. Steele as the sole proprietor and editor. [16] In December 1889, J.O. Blackburn started the Merced Journal. [17] In December 1890, the Steele family sold the Argus to Justus Hubbard Rogers and Charles Daniel Radcliffe. [3] In January 1891, Rogers and Radcliffe acquired the Journal and merged it with the Argus to form the Merced County Sun. [18] [3] Rogers soon sold out to Willard Beebe, [19] who in turn sold out to Radcliffe in 1893. Beebe went on to own the Los Banos Enterprise. [3] Radcliffe's brother Corwin Radcliffe joined the paper in 1895. [3] Star co-owner Thomas Harris died in 1897. [20] Sun co-owner C.D. Radcliffe died in 1919, [21] and Urban J. Hoult then became a partner at the Sun. [22]
In 1921, Charles Harris sold the Star to Walter H. Killam. [23] In 1924, Sun co-owner Hoult died. [24] In 1925, Peter McClung and his two sons Ray and Hugh McClung bought the Merced Evening Sun and Merced Morning Star and merged them together to form the Merced Sun-Star. [25] In 1941, Dean Lesher, publisher of the Fremont Tribune in Nebraska, bought the Sun-Star from the McClung family. [26] [27] Lesher died in 1993. [28] Two years later, Lesher Newspapers, Inc. sold the Sun-Star, Madera Tribune , and several other papers to USMedia Group, Inc., of Crystal City, Missouri. [29] In 2004, the paper was acquired by The McClatchy Company. [30] [31]
In July 2024, the newspaper announced it will decrease the number of print editions to three days a week: Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. [32]
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