Establishment , editor from 1851 to 1861 The
Illinois Staats-Zeitung was founded in April 1848 as a weekly, and became a daily in 1851. Politically, the newspaper was
Republican.
Hermann Kriege was the first editor-in-chief. In 1851,
Georg Schneider joined the staff of the paper and became editor. Among his associates were George Hillgärtner and Daniel Hertel. The
Illinois Staats-Zeitung opposed slavery, and Schneider successfully used the newspaper as a platform to campaign against the
Kansas–Nebraska Act. On February 22, 1856 Schneider attended, on behalf of the
Illinois Staats-Zeitung, a meeting in
Decatur of anti-Nebraska newspapers in Illinois. In total, 26 newspapers were represented at the meeting, assembled by the
Morgan Journal editor Paul Selby.
Civil War period was the owner of the
Staats-Zeitung from 1867 until his retirement in the 1880s. , editor of the
Staats-Zeitung 1861 to 1867 During the
Civil War years,
Lorenz Brentano was proprietor and editor-in-chief, succeeding Schneider. At this point,
Illinois Staats-Zeitung was the second-largest daily newspaper in the Chicago. During the war,
Wilhelm Rapp was on the staff. He came from the
Baltimore Wecker after a
riot destroyed its office. After the war, he returned to the
Wecker. In the years after the war, the
Staats-Zeitung was published by Prussian immigrant
Anton C. Hesing, a former sheriff of
Cook County, who moved from partial ownership to complete ownership in 1867. A public figure and political boss of sorts, Hesing would use the pages of his paper for maximum political impact, helping to launch the pro-alcohol
People's Party in 1873 and orchestrating the election of
Harvey Doolittle Colvin as the 27th
mayor of Chicago. Hesing's independent political venture would fall into disrepute within a few years and the
Staats-Zeitung returned to the Republican ranks. Concurrent with Hesing's assumption of the paper's ownership in 1867,
Hermann Raster accepted the position of editor — a position he would retain until his death in 1891. Raster was the longest holder of this position, and the paper was at the peak of its financial success during his tenure. Wilhelm Rapp returned to the
Staats-Zeitung in 1872, and became editor when Raster died in 1891.
Great Chicago Fire , editor from 1867 to 1891 The
Staats-Zeitung was particularly hard hit during the October 1871
Great Chicago Fire. Not only was the building housing the publication, including its machinery and type, lost to the flames, but so, too, were back files of the paper and the publication's records of accounts. Moreover, virtually the entire staff of the paper from editors to press operators found themselves burned out of their homes. After Hesing, Brentano, and Raster died at the end of the 19th century, the paper began to decline. In 1899, the majority stockholders of the paper created a new board of directors and ousted long-time treasurer
Charles Francis Pietsch. Henrietta Hesing and Margarethe Raster, the widows of Washington Hesing and Hermann Raster, controlled the property of the
Staats-Zeitung, and Lorenz Brentano's son
Theodore became new treasurer.
World War I and termination Until the United States became involved in World War I, the
Illinois Staats-Zeitung supported the German war effort. Editor Arthur Lorenz was reportedly "unrestrained" in his support for the Germans, and the paper lost a great deal of advertising and funding as a result. By the late 1910s, it was in dire financial straits and garnered significant controversy when it ran an article describing members of the
American Legion as vagabonds and bums and that the legion had been "bought with British gold to betray American labor." In 1921, the paper was sold for $25,000 and Colonel John Clinnin, assistant United States district attorney, recommended deportation proceedings for Lorenz. The paper was resurrected as
Deutsch-Amerikanische Bürger-Zeitung. A short time before, the
Chicagoer Freie Presse had merged with the paper. ==Staff==