Beginnings The newspaper began on Sept. 23, 1876, when Dr.
Chester Rowell, a local physician and politician, published 750 copies of the
Fresno Weekly Republican. When the weekly paper became a daily morning publication 11 years later, Rowell renamed it The
Fresno Morning Republican. Rowell, one of the few Republicans in Fresno at the time, named his newspaper to reflect his political stance. William Glass became the business manager in 1890 and stabilized operations. Dr. Rowell offered the managing editor job to his nephew, Chester Harvey Rowell, who at that point in his career had earned a doctoral degree from the
University of Michigan, worked as a clerk in the
U.S. House of Representatives, traveled to Europe and taught in Kansas, Wisconsin and Illinois. Expanding his scope statewide, Rowell formed the
Lincoln–Roosevelt League and began a political reform effort, targeting the
Southern Pacific Railroad in particular. The sale price exceeded $1,000,000. The Morning Republican's former offices at the southern corner of the intersection of Tulare Street and Van Ness Avenue were sold to a furniture store in 1935. The building was remodeled and its brick exterior was covered in stucco but sat vacant for many years and was torn down in 2004.
Frank A. Homan, mayor of Fresno from 1937 to 1941, worked as a reporter for the Morning Republican. == See also ==