Naperville Sun
Encyclopedia
The Naperville Sun is a newspaper based in Naperville, Illinois
. It is published six days a week, Sunday through Friday. It is owned by the Sun-Times Media Group
, formerly Hollinger
, a group that includes the Chicago Sun-Times
, the Aurora Beacon News, the Joliet Herald News, the Elgin Courier News and the Lake County News Sun
, formerly Waukegan News Sun. Hollinger purchased many suburban daily and weekly papers from The Copley Press
in 2000.
for a fee that exceeded the revenue coming in, while its size had dwindled to four pages. In that first decade, the number of publishing pratfalls were barely exceeded by the will to learn from a bumpy start — and keep the paper in print.
The first Sun, dated July 19, 1935, rolled off the press in Downers Grove under the watchful eye of printer Gordon Isaac, who would come to be a mentor to early publishers Harold Moser and Harold White.
Moser launched the paper to compete with the Naperville Clarion. The first edition covered the bases: a report and picture of Elmer Yanke's car versus tree collision; gate receipts from 4,298 nonresident visitors to Centennial Beach; the "matrimonial plunge" of Harold Kopp and Esther Topp; a classified ad section; sports; even Cromer Motor Companies used cars. Column two on the front proclaimed "Rising gloriously in the eastern horizon, the sun reigns supreme over the entire earth each and every day. So also The Naperville Sun, upon its inaugural edition ... and on each successive week, it will reign supreme in offering you the latest and most complete stories on sports, news and social gatherings."
The paper drew hometown boy White like a moth to the flame. He offered to do most of the writing as well as proofread stories and set type. Moser couldn't afford to pay him. Within months, though, the 21-year-old Moser was offering to sell the newspaper to his 22-year-old employee. Moser wasn't exactly finished in Naperville, though. He went on to found Moser Lumber and the Macom Corp. and build Naperville from farming town to booming 'burb.
White married Eva Anderson, an art student White fell for at North Central College. She sold ads while White handled production. By Christmas 1939, they'd sold 1,075 subscriptions, at $1 per year. Business was going well enough by the late 1930s that White stopped paying $25 monthly rent at the Old Spanish Tea Room at 128 S. Washington St. and bought the building that served as The Sun's headquarters until 1965.
purchased The Sun from White. Eva White died in 1990; Harold White died in 1993. Publication increased one day a week to three, and the paper became a daily in 2003, with the exception of Saturdays. In 2002, The Sun went from publishing three days per week (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays) to six days per week, becoming a daily newspaper in a town that became the fourth largest city in Illinois.
The Naperville Sun has a circulation of over 20,000 households while reaching 50,000 Naperville adults. Its competitors include The Daily Herald
and the Chicago Tribune.
The Sun's sports section won honors from the Associated Press
Sports Editors in daily, Sunday and special section competitions in the first three years of its time as a daily paper.
Naperville, Illinois
Naperville is a city in DuPage and Will Counties in Illinois in the United States, voted the second best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2006. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 141,853. It is the fifth largest city in the state, behind Chicago,...
. It is published six days a week, Sunday through Friday. It is owned by the Sun-Times Media Group
Sun-Times Media Group
Sun-Times Media Group is a Chicago-based newspaper publisher. It is known for its prior association with controversial Canadian businessman Conrad Black.-History:...
, formerly Hollinger
Hollinger Inc.
Hollinger Inc. was a Canadian media company based in Toronto. It was created by the Canadian businessman Conrad Black as a holding company for his media interests after he acquired control of The Daily Telegraph in 1986. It was the parent company of Chicago-based Hollinger International, whose...
, a group that includes the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, the Aurora Beacon News, the Joliet Herald News, the Elgin Courier News and the Lake County News Sun
News Sun
The Lake County News-Sun is a regional newspaper based in Gurnee, Illinois, that predominantly covers news for Lake County, Illinois, a part of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is currently owned by the Sun-Times Media Group as part of its Suburban Chicago Newspapers division, which publishes...
, formerly Waukegan News Sun. Hollinger purchased many suburban daily and weekly papers from The Copley Press
Copley Press
Copley Press was a privately held newspaper business, founded in Illinois, but later based in La Jolla, California. Its flagship paper was The San Diego Union-Tribune.-Pulitzer Prizes:...
in 2000.
Early years
When Harold White and Gordon Haist bought The Naperville Sun for $600 in 1936, the year-old publication was little more than a typewriter, a desk and a name. At the end of The Sun's first year the paper was still being distributed for free to some 2,000 families, and printed in Downers Grove, IllinoisDowners Grove, Illinois
Downers Grove is a village in Downers Grove and Lisle Townships, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 48,724 at the 2000 census, with an official estimated population of 49,250 in 2008.-History:...
for a fee that exceeded the revenue coming in, while its size had dwindled to four pages. In that first decade, the number of publishing pratfalls were barely exceeded by the will to learn from a bumpy start — and keep the paper in print.
The first Sun, dated July 19, 1935, rolled off the press in Downers Grove under the watchful eye of printer Gordon Isaac, who would come to be a mentor to early publishers Harold Moser and Harold White.
Moser launched the paper to compete with the Naperville Clarion. The first edition covered the bases: a report and picture of Elmer Yanke's car versus tree collision; gate receipts from 4,298 nonresident visitors to Centennial Beach; the "matrimonial plunge" of Harold Kopp and Esther Topp; a classified ad section; sports; even Cromer Motor Companies used cars. Column two on the front proclaimed "Rising gloriously in the eastern horizon, the sun reigns supreme over the entire earth each and every day. So also The Naperville Sun, upon its inaugural edition ... and on each successive week, it will reign supreme in offering you the latest and most complete stories on sports, news and social gatherings."
The paper drew hometown boy White like a moth to the flame. He offered to do most of the writing as well as proofread stories and set type. Moser couldn't afford to pay him. Within months, though, the 21-year-old Moser was offering to sell the newspaper to his 22-year-old employee. Moser wasn't exactly finished in Naperville, though. He went on to found Moser Lumber and the Macom Corp. and build Naperville from farming town to booming 'burb.
White married Eva Anderson, an art student White fell for at North Central College. She sold ads while White handled production. By Christmas 1939, they'd sold 1,075 subscriptions, at $1 per year. Business was going well enough by the late 1930s that White stopped paying $25 monthly rent at the Old Spanish Tea Room at 128 S. Washington St. and bought the building that served as The Sun's headquarters until 1965.
Recent history
In 1991, Copley PressCopley Press
Copley Press was a privately held newspaper business, founded in Illinois, but later based in La Jolla, California. Its flagship paper was The San Diego Union-Tribune.-Pulitzer Prizes:...
purchased The Sun from White. Eva White died in 1990; Harold White died in 1993. Publication increased one day a week to three, and the paper became a daily in 2003, with the exception of Saturdays. In 2002, The Sun went from publishing three days per week (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays) to six days per week, becoming a daily newspaper in a town that became the fourth largest city in Illinois.
The Naperville Sun has a circulation of over 20,000 households while reaching 50,000 Naperville adults. Its competitors include The Daily Herald
Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois newspaper)
The Daily Herald is a daily newspaper based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The newspaper is distributed in the northern, northwestern and western suburbs of Chicago...
and the Chicago Tribune.
The Sun's sports section won honors from the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
Sports Editors in daily, Sunday and special section competitions in the first three years of its time as a daily paper.