Minneapolis Tribune The
Star Tribune roots date to the creation of the
Minneapolis Daily Tribune by Colonel
William S. King,
William D. Washburn, and
Dorilus Morrison. The two men previously operated different Minneapolis newspapers, the
State Atlas and the
Minneapolis Daily Chronicle. The newspaper was designed to unify the local Republican Party under one newspaper. The
Tribune first issue was published on May 25, 1867. The newspaper went through several different editors and publishers during its first two decades, including John T. Gilman, George K. Shaw,
Albert Shaw, and
Alden J. Blethen. In 1878, the
Minneapolis Evening Journal began publication, giving the
Tribune its first competition. On November 30, 1889, downtown Minneapolis's
Tribune headquarters caught fire. Seven people were killed and 30 injured, and the building and presses were a total loss. In 1891, the
Tribune was purchased by
Gilbert A. Pierce and
William J. Murphy for $450,000 (equivalent to $ in ). Pierce quickly sold his share to
Thomas Lowry, and Lowry sold it to Murphy, making Murphy the newspaper's sole owner. His business and legal background helped him structure the
Tribune debt and modernize its printing equipment. The newspaper experimented with partial-color printing and the use of
halftone for photographs and portraits. In 1893, Murphy sent the
Tribune first correspondent to
Washington, D.C. As Minneapolis grew, the newspaper's circulation expanded; the
Tribune and the
Evening Journal were closely competitive, with the smaller
Minneapolis Times in third place. In 1905, Murphy bought out the
Times and merged it with the
Tribune.
Cowles era In 1935, the Cowles family of
Des Moines, Iowa purchased the
Star. The family patriarch,
Gardner Cowles Sr., had purchased
The Des Moines Register and the
Des Moines Tribune during the first decade of the century and managed them successfully. Gardner's son,
John Cowles Sr., moved to Minneapolis to manage the
Star. Under him, it had the city's highest circulation, pressuring Minneapolis's other newspapers. In 1939, the Cowles family purchased the
Minneapolis Evening Journal, merging the two newspapers into the
Star-Journal.
Tribune publisher Fred Murphy died in 1940; the next year, the Cowles family bought the
Tribune and merged it with their company, giving it ownership of the city's major newspapers. The
Tribune became the city's morning newspaper, the
Star-Journal (renamed the
Star in 1947) was the evening newspaper, and they published a joint Sunday edition. A separate evening newspaper (the
Times) was spun off and published separately until 1948. In 1944, John Cowles Sr. hired
Wisconsin native and former
Tulsa Tribune editor
William P. Steven as managing editor of the two newspapers; Steven became vice president and executive editor in 1954. During his tenure in Minneapolis, he was president of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association in 1949 and first chairman of the organization's Continuing Study Committee. By August 1960,
John Cowles Jr. was vice president and associate editor of the two papers, and it was soon apparent that he disapproved of Steven's hard-nosed approach to journalism. When Steven chafed under the younger Cowles's management, he was fired. After Steven's ouster, Cowles Jr. was editor of the two newspapers; he became president in 1968 and editorial chairman the following year. He had a progressive political viewpoint, publishing editorials supporting the
civil rights movement and liberal causes. In 1982, the afternoon
Star was discontinued due to dwindling circulation, a trend common for afternoon newspapers. The two papers merged into a single morning paper, the
Minneapolis Star and Tribune. Cowles Jr. fired publisher
Donald R. Dwight. His handling of Dwight's termination led to his removal as editor in 1983, although his family retained a controlling financial interest in the newspaper. In 1987, the newspaper's name was simplified to
Star Tribune, and the slogan "Newspaper of the Twin Cities" was added. In March 2007, Par Ridder was appointed
Star Tribune publisher after his predecessor, J. Keith Moyer, left the newspaper after the sale. Ridder is a member of the Ridder family, which had owned
Knight Ridder (publishers of several newspapers, including at that time the rival
St. Paul Pioneer Press). Ridder's arrival resulted in litigation when it was discovered that he had stolen a hard drive containing information about employees and advertisers, which the
Pioneer Press called "trade secrets". Ridder also took two high-ranking staff members to the Minneapolis paper, which raised eyebrows since such employees usually have
non-compete clauses in their contracts. On September 18, 2007, Ridder was removed from his post by a Ramsey County judge, and he resigned on December 7. On September 17, the
United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved a bankruptcy plan for the
Star Tribune, which emerged from bankruptcy protection on September 28. The paper's senior secured lenders received about 95% of the post-bankruptcy company. Since 2010, the
Star Tribune has given out awards to the "Top 150 Workplaces in Minnesota". Since the
Star Tribune bankruptcy, its former ownership group, led by New York City–based Avista Capital Partners, has no stake in the company. In 2014, the company was acquired by
Glen Taylor, owner of the NBA's
Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA's
Minnesota Lynx. A former
Republican state senator, Taylor said the
Star Tribune would be less liberal under his ownership. He also said the paper had already begun a shift and would focus on accurately reporting both sides of all issues. In May 2015, the company acquired alternative weekly
City Pages from
Voice Media Group.
City Pages continued publishing until it became another victim of advertising revenue loss and the
COVID-19 pandemic. It shuttered in October 2020, and the website was moved to the
Hennepin County Library's archives. In September 2025, the paper announced it would sell its printing plant in Minneapolis, lay off 125 workers, and outsource printing to a plant in Iowa. ==Editions==