The Desplaines Valley News is the self-proclaimed “newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 of record” for the Southwest Suburban Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 communities of Bedford Park

Bedford Park, Illinois

Bedford Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 574 at the 2000 census. Bedford Park consists of a small residential area and vast amounts of heavy industry sprawling to the east and a small amount to the west.-Geography:...

, Bridgeview

Bridgeview, Illinois

Bridgeview is a village in Cook County, Illinois in the United States. It is located approximately from the Chicago Loop. As of the 2010 census, the village population was 16,446...

, Brookfield

Brookfield, Illinois

Brookfield is a suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, west of downtown. The population was 19,085 at the 2000 census...

, Countryside

Countryside, Illinois

Countryside is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,991 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Countryside is located at ....

, Hodgkins

Hodgkins, Illinois

Hodgkins is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,134 at the 2000 census.A large United Parcel Service sorting facility, known as CACH, is located partly in Hodgkins and partly in nearby Willow Springs on the outskirts of Chicago...

, Indian Head Park, Justice

Justice, Illinois

Justice is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States established in 1911. The population was 12,850 as of 2006.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water.A major road running through the town is...

, La Grange Highlands

La Grange Highlands, Illinois

La Grange Highlands is an unincorporated community south of La Grange in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is known for being a very nice wooded area with large residential properties. It is located close to I294, I55 and I355 which make it a convenient place to live....

, Lyons

Lyons, Illinois

Lyons is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,255 at the 2000 census.-History:Incorporated in 1888, Lyons is steeped in earlier historical roots. In 1673 French Explorer Louis Joliet and Jesuit missionary Father Pierre Marquette left Green Bay, Wisconsin by canoe...

, McCook

McCook, Illinois

McCook is a suburb of Chicago in Cook County, in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 254, which is the lowest population of all municipalities in the county. It was named for John J. McCook, a late 19th century director of the Santa Fe Railroad and a former...

, Summit

Summit, Illinois

Summit is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,637 at the 2000 census. The village is best known as the setting to Ernest Hemingway's 1927 short story "The Killers".-Geography:...

 and Willow Springs

Willow Springs, Illinois

Willow Springs is a village in Cook and DuPage Counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,027 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Willow Springs is located at ....

. Heritage Media Services Company of Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 publishes the newspaper Thursday of each week.

Founded on October 18, 1913 by A.S. Bushkevitz, the Desplaines Valley News became a fixture heralding the news of local interest to the communities surrounding the historic Illinois and Michigan Canal

Illinois and Michigan Canal

The Illinois and Michigan Canal ran from the Bridgeport neighborhood in Chicago on the Chicago River to LaSalle-Peru, Illinois, on the Illinois River. It was finished in 1848 when Chicago Mayor James Hutchinson Woodworth presided over its opening; and it allowed boat transportation from the Great...

. Beginning with Bushkevitz and continuing through to the present day the editors of the Desplaines Valley News have also used the newspaper as a vehicle for bolstering and publicizing local business.

Bushkevits described his vision for the paper this way:

"To the Residents, Business Men And General Public, We have come into your town with a Newspaper Enterprise to stay, if you will stand by us. We have asked for no bonus, nor do we intend to do so; but all we ask of you is that you give us your Patronage in the way of Job Work, Advertising, Subscription and good will. If you will give us all your work and subscribe for our Paper we will do our best to please you, and will assure you that this will be the People’s Paper. We will advocate the patronage of Home Industries, and we would like to have you do likewise. It is up to you to keep this Paper before you for much good.”

The News under Noonan

In 1986 the Desplaines Valley News was purchased by the soft-spoken, chain-smoking, former copy boy turned editor, John C. Noonan. Under the Bridgeport, Chicago

Bridgeport, Chicago

Bridgeport, one of 77 community areas of Chicago, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. It is bounded, generally, on the west and north by the Chicago River, on the east by Canal Street, and on the south by Pershing Road.-History:...

 native’s leadership, the Desplaines Valley News was transformed into a kind of “working school” for aspiring local journalists.

When he was 15 years old, Noonan went to work for the Bridgeport News

Bridgeport News

The Bridgeport News is a weekly newspaper that serves the Bridgeport and McKinley Park neighborhoods of Chicago, Illinois.The newspaper was founded in 1938, and claims on its masthead to be A Non-Partisan Independent Newspaper Serving Bridgeport, Canaryville, Armour Square, Chinatown, McKinley...

and got his first exposure to print journalism. While attending DeLaSalle High School, Noonan was able to get a job as a copy boy at the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

. Some time later he was moved to the Tribune’s rewrite desk, and in 1961 Noonan became a beat reporter with the City News Bureau of Chicago

City News Bureau of Chicago

City News Bureau of Chicago, or City Press, was a news bureau that served as one of the first cooperative news agencies in the United States. It was founded in the late 19th century by the newspapers of Chicago to provide a common source of local and breaking news and also used by them as a...

. Noonan spent seven years at City News, where he was overnight city editor and broadcast editor.

During his 14-year tenure at the Desplaines Valley News, Noonan exposed a new generation of reporters to the “City News” style of journalism, training wide-eyed upstarts to think like beat reporters – be tenacious, make friends, get lots of information and make sure it’s good. Noonan brought the City News maxim, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out,” to Summit, Illinois.

In addition to running the Desplaines Valley News, Noonan also ran for Illinois Senate

Illinois Senate

The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the state of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. The Illinois Senate is made up of 59 senators elected from...

 in the 24th District in 1992. He was defeated in the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 primary, but garnered nearly 10,000 votes.

John Noonan died on Sunday, October 15, 2000 at Hinsdale Hospital, Hinsdale, Illinois

Hinsdale, Illinois

Hinsdale is a suburb of Chicago, Illinois; it is located partly in Cook County and mainly in DuPage County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 17,349 at the 2000 census. The town's ZIP code is 60521. The town has a rolling, wooded topography, with a quaint downtown and is a 30-minute...

, after a short battle with lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

 at the age of 58.

The News Today

Today the Desplaines Valley News is owned and operated by Mary Jo Noonan, who also serves as the Clerk of Lyons Township, Cook County, Illinois

Lyons Township, Cook County, Illinois

Lyons Township is one of thirty townships in Cook County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 109,264. Lyons Township was established in 1850.-Geography:...

.

• Matthew J. Villagomez – Associate Editor

• James Pluta – Associate Editor

External links

John C. Noonan Obituary http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20001022/ai_n13888044

The Desplaines Valley News http://www.desplainesvalleynews.com/