Stilson Hutchins was an American newspaper reporter and publisher, best known as founder of the Washington Post.

Hutchins was born in Whitefield, Coos County, New Hampshire, on 14 November 1838, the son of Stilson Eastman and Clara Eaton Hutchins. He moved to Saint Louis, establishing the Saint Louis Times newspaper in 1866, and became a Missouri state representative for 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...

.

He subsequently moved to Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, where he founded the Washington Post to advance Democratic Party views. It was first published on December 6, 1877; within a year, circulation topped 6,000 copies per day. In 1880, Joseph Pulitzer

Joseph Pulitzer

Joseph Pulitzer April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911), born Politzer József, was a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the New York World. Pulitzer introduced the techniques of "new journalism" to the newspapers he acquired in the 1880s and became a leading...

 joined the staff. By 1888, Hutchins cut his allegiance to the Democrats, and bought out the paper's only competitor, the Republican National. He sold the Post in 1889.

In 1889, Hutchins commissioned a statue of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (Jouvenal)

Benjamin Franklin is a Carrara marble statue by Jacques Jouvenal. It is located at Old Post Office Pavilion, at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. It was a gift by Stilson Hutchins, a founder of the Washington Post....

to stand at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue

Pennsylvania Avenue

Pennsylvania Avenue is a street in Washington, D.C. that joins the White House and the United States Capitol. Called "America's Main Street", it is the location of official parades and processions, as well as protest marches...

 and 12th street, overlooking what were then the offices of the Washington Post. In 1890, he commissioned a sculpture of Charles Dickens

Dickens and Little Nell (Elwell)

Dickens and Little Nell is a bronze sculpture by Francis Edwin Elwell that stands in Clark Park, Spruce Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at South 43rd Street and Baltimore Avenue...

 from Francis Edwin Elwell

Francis Edwin Elwell

Francis Edwin Elwell was an American sculptor.-Life:Born in Concord, Massachusetts, Elwell was orphaned at age four and, according to various sources, was adopted by author Louisa May Alcott or grew up under the care of his grandfather, a Mr...

, but backed out of the deal. In 1900, Hutchins also funded Gaetano Trentanove

Gaetano Trentanove

Gaetano Trentanove was an Italian and American sculptor.Trentanove was born in Florence, Italy, a goldsmith's son...

's Daniel Webster Memorial

Daniel Webster Memorial

The Daniel Webster Memorial is a monument in Washington, D.C. honoring U.S. statesman Daniel Webster. It is located near Webster's former home at 1603 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, beside Scott Circle at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Rhode Island Avenue.The statue of Webster was...

 in Scott Circle

Scott Circle

Scott Circle is a traffic circle in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Rhode Island Avenue, and 16th Street, N.W...

, Washington, D.C.

In August 1883, Hutchins had leased Governor's Island

Governors Island (Lake Winnipesaukee)

Governors Island is one of five bridged islands on Lake Winnipesaukee and is part of the town of Gilford, New Hampshire. The island supports high end housing and cultural activities.-See also:...

, on Lake Winnipesaukee

Lake Winnipesaukee

Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is approximately long and from wide , covering — when Paugus Bay is included—with a maximum depth of ....

 in Gilford, New Hampshire

Gilford, New Hampshire

Gilford is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 7,126 at the 2010 census. Situated on Lake Winnipesaukee, Gilford is home to Governors Island, Ellacoya State Beach, Belknap Mountain State Forest, Gunstock Mountain Ski Resort, and Meadowbrook U.S...

, from Isaiah Morrill of Gilford, for $1,000 per year for 99 years, "with the privilege of purchasing the island within twenty years for the sum of $20,000". The arrangement took effect January 1, 1884. Hutchins built a mansion on the island in 1885. In 1903, he leased the mansion to the Ambassador from Germany, Baron Speck von Sternburg, who established a summer embassy there with a retinue of at least 20 persons. The Baron later wrote that the view from the mansion was as magnificent as anything in Switzerland or Bavaria, and that the advertising which he gave the region caused the sale of other summer property. The mansion was sold by the Hutchins family in the late 1920s and burned down on August 1, 1935. While Hutchins' mansion was once the only one on the island, now there are scores of large private homes.

He died at his home in Washington, D.C., on 23 April 1912 and is buried at Rock Creek Cemetery

Rock Creek Cemetery

Rock Creek Cemetery — also Rock Creek Church Yard and Cemetery — is an cemetery with a natural rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE in Washington, D.C.'s Michigan Park neighborhood, near Washington's Petworth neighborhood...

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