The
Monitor has been published continuously since 1864, under a variety of names, including the
Evening Monitor, and owners. In the late 19th century it was owned by a publishing company called the Republican Press Association which also published a paper named the
Independent Statesman. Its masthead calls it the
Concord Monitor and New Hampshire Patriot, although the
Monitor name is the only one in widespread use.
James M. Langley, who had acquired both publications in the 1920s, was responsible for the merger. William Dwight, publisher of the
Holyoke Transcript-Telegram in
Massachusetts, bought the
Monitor from Langley in 1961, becoming its publisher. When he retired in 1975, his son-in-law George W. Wilson took over both the
Monitor and
Newspapers of New England Inc., the holding company of Dwight's newspapers in Concord,
Holyoke and
Greenfield, Massachusetts. The
Monitor has been flagship of this chain — now encompassing four dailies and three weeklies in New Hampshire and
Massachusetts — since 1993, when the
Transcript-Telegram folded. Its 2004 circulation was 22,000 daily, 23,000 Sundays. More recent figures put the daily circulation around 20,000. In 2005, George W. Wilson retired as president of Newspapers of New England. Tom Brown became president of NNE, and Geordie Wilson, George W. Wilson's son, became publisher of the
Monitor. Brown retired in 2009 and was replaced by Aaron Julien, George W. Wilson's son-in-law. John Winn Miller, former publisher of
The Olympian of Olympia, Wash., was named the
Monitor's publisher in 2010. In early 2013, Mark Travis, who had spent more than two decades at the paper as a reporter and editor, succeeded Miller as publisher. In June 2013, Travis also became editor. Travis left his dual roles at the paper in February 2014, with David Sangiorgio stepping in as acting publisher. Heather McKernan replaced Sangiorgio as publisher in May 2017; she also continued to hold the title of publisher at the
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in
Peterborough, another NNE-owned newspaper. ==Awards and honors==