Santa Cruz Sentinel

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Santa Cruz Sentinel
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s) Digital First Media
Founder(s)John McElroy
Founded1855 (as the Monterey Sentinel)
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters100 Pioneer Street #C1, Santa Cruz, California United States
Circulation 14,664 Daily
16,189 Sunday(as of 2022) [1]
ISSN 1531-0817
OCLC number 44628929
Website santacruzsentinel.com

The Santa Cruz Sentinel is a daily newspaper published in Santa Cruz, California, covering Santa Cruz County, California, [2] and owned by Media News Group, which is controlled by Alden Global Capital. [3]

Contents

History

On June 2, 1855, John McElroy published the first edition of the Monterey Sentinel in Monterey, California. [4] [5] McElroy was an Ohioan who fought in the Mexican–American War. He had worked at other papers in Los Angeles and Placerville before starting one of his own. [6]

After a year in business, McElroy was approached by Albion Jordan, who co-owned a lime manufacturer. Jordan offered to freely move the printing plant to Santa Cruz and McElroy accepted. The press was transported aboard a schooner named "Queen of the West." [6] The Monterey Sentinel relocated in May 1856. [7] [8] The first issue of the new Pacific Sentinel was published in Santa Cruz on June 14, 1856. [9] [6]

The paper's name was later changed for a third time to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. [6] McElroy published the paper with several different partners over the following eight years including Duncan McPherson. [6] The paper was owned by the McPherson family for 118 years. [10] In 1982, the paper merged with Ottaway Community Newspapers, a division of Dow Jones & Company. [11] In October 2006, Dow Jones sold the paper to Community Newspaper Holdings. [12] [13] On February 2, 2007, the Sentinel was sold again to MediaNews Group. [14] [15] The MediaNews Group formed Digital First Media in 2013 when it merged with Journal Register Company. The company is controlled by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital. [3]

References

  1. "Bay Area News Group Market Book" (PDF). Dropbox. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  2. "Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, Ca) 2000-Current". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  3. 1 2 Folkenflik, David (May 21, 2021). "'Vulture' Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers". National Public Radio . Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  4. "Monterey Sentinel". The Placer Herald. Rocklin, California. June 2, 1855. p. 2.
  5. "Vol. 1, No.1". Monterey Sentinel. June 2, 1855. p. 1 via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Sentinel Is 100 Years Old". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Santa Cruz, California. June 17, 1956. p. 30.
  7. "Newspaper Removal". The Nevada Journal. Nevada City, California. May 30, 1856. p. 2.
  8. "Notice". The Empire County Argus. Coloma, California. May 31, 1856. p. 2.
  9. "New California Paper". Chico Weekly Chronicle-Record. Chico, California. June 21, 1856. p. 2.
  10. Hattis, PK (June 16, 2023). "Supervisor Bruce McPherson to retire at end of third term". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  11. "The Sentinel, Ottaway Newspapers Merge". Santa Cruz Sentinel. April 13, 1982. p. 1.
  12. "Dow Jones to sell Traverse City newspaper, five others". The Bay City Times. Bay City, Michigan. Associated Press. October 31, 2006. p. 8.
  13. "CNHI to acquire 6 dailies from Dow Jones". Community Newspaper Holdings. November 1, 2006. Archived from the original on February 2, 2007. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  14. "MediaNews buys Santa Cruz Sentinel". El Paso Times. El Paso, Texas. Associated Press. February 3, 2007. p. 60.
  15. "MediaNews Group, Inc. acquires Santa Cruz Sentinel". Community Newspaper Holdings. February 2, 2007. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008. Retrieved August 29, 2025.