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59-664: The entity known as the News American was formed by a final merger of two papers, the Baltimore News-Post and The Baltimore Sunday American , in 1964, after a 191-year history and weaning process. Those newspapers each had a long history before the merger, in particular the Baltimore American which could trace its lineage unbroken to at least 1796, and, traditionally, it claimed even earlier antecedents to 1773. Other precursor newspapers The News and

118-657: A direct descendant of the original Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser was founded in 1773 and had a long-time editor/publisher with C.C. Fulton during the middle 19th Century. After the American Civil War , Felix Agnus, returned from the war and settled in Baltimore and became manager of the American and eventually married the Fulton's daughter. Within a decade, he became the editor and publisher following

177-421: A few years later and rebuilt it in 1911 in larger and grander style as the then briefly tallest building in Baltimore, designed by the famed architectural firms of Baldwin & Pennington of Baltimore and McKim, Mead and White of New York City and named it The Munsey Building, with large ground-floor windows so passers-by could see the massive printing presses which printed the day's papers. Mumsey also became

236-439: A larger syndicate including The Baltimore Sun , which later entered into bankruptcy in 2009 for four years after being acquired by billionaire investor Sam Zell. The revamped News American was published seven days a week with the usually thick special Sunday edition of many sections. The masthead was redesigned with a new vignette with the old Phoenix Shot Tower in the center and the city skyline buildings behind, surmounted by

295-491: A libel suit for slander from one of his political targets, which he won anyway. The Great Baltimore Fire of February 1904 took down much of the city's central business district including the Evening News Building and The Suns "Iron Building". The Washington Post agreed to print The News , and Grasty turned to Adolph S. Ochs , publisher of The New York Times to use the unused printing facilities of

354-451: A morning major daily newspaper, co-founded 1837 by Arunah Shepherdson Abell (A.S. Abell), William Moseley Swain and recently joined by Grasty with a companion afternoon edition entitled The Evening Sun in 1910. Grasty was named among the great American newspaper publishers and owners, such as James Gordon Bennett , Benjamin Day , Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst . Grasty owned

413-486: A new skyscraper and publishing tower at the southeast corner of North Calvert Street and East Fayette Street (across from the Battle Monument Square, which had survived untouched on the northern edge of the "Burnt District"). As the first non-resident owner of The American in its already long history, but not satisfied with this new property of The News headquarters, Munsey promptly tore it down just

472-641: A time and divided its assets for their existing newspapers. Grasty sold the News on 27 February 1908 to chain-maker Frank A. Munsey for $ 1,500,000. Grasty attempted to remain on as general manager, but resigned within weeks due to disagreements. Later in 1908 he bought a half-interest in a Minnesota evening paper called the Dispatch . Early the next year he bought the St. Paul Pioneer Press , which had both morning and evening editions, and combined its evening edition with

531-623: A war correspondent. In 1918 he published a book, Flashes from the Front . He continued living in London and working as a war correspondent for the Times until his death. He wrote a number of pieces that were published in the Atlantic while he was a correspondent in London. Grasty was one of the investors of Roland Park , a suburban development in Baltimore at about the same time that he first acquired

590-689: The Kansas City Star , where he rose to managing editor within 18 months. In 1890, he married Leota Tootle Perrin, a woman with a daughter from another marriage named Sarah Perrin. That same year, Grasty became the general manager of the Manufacturers' Record , a weekly business journal in Baltimore , leaving the Kansas City Star . Grasty was involved in developing Roland Park a new planned neighborhood in north Baltimore by

649-659: The American . Agnus found printing facilities in Washington, D.C., and soon began construction on a new, 16 story building. Agnus also founded the Baltimore Star . He sold both newspapers on 1 December 1924, to Frank Munsey . He was twice asked to be the Republican nominee for a seat in the United States Senate , but declined. Agnus was appointed US Consul to Derry, Ireland , and confirmed by

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708-518: The Baltimore News-Post under the Hearst banner along with the old ancient The Baltimore American , which was published now only on Sundays. In 1964, the News-Post and American became published as The News American with a newly designed masthead logo and vignette (sketch). It was the largest circulation daily in Baltimore, especially prominent in the working-class and blue-collar districts until

767-490: The Baltimore Post were founded in 1873 and 1922, respectively, and broke new ground in graphics, technology, journalistic style, and quality of writing and reporting. For most of the last two-thirds of the 19th century, the buildings of the two main newspapers of the city faced each other across South Street along East Baltimore Street, with The Sun' s "Iron Building" of revolutionary cast iron front design reflecting

826-687: The Dispatch . Grasty's style was not well accepted in the Twin Cities and he soon sold the papers back to their original owners and took an extended trip to Europe. However, Grasty was already eyeing The Baltimore Sun , which was still run by the Abell family. Grasty found investors and struck a deal with the Sun founders to leave them with a majority stake, but took for himself preferred shares that guaranteed absolute control of The Sun by him personally. The Abells relented out of fear that Grasty would roll up

885-512: The Evening News , which had been founded in the early 1870s and utilized the new illustrative technology of using woodcuts illustrations plates to show pictures spread across its pages before the advent of reprinting photographs directly on newspaper pages. During Grasty's tenure The News built its elaborate tall headquarters and printing plant with a corner clock tower on the southwest corner of East Baltimore and South Streets directly across

944-556: The News-Post and the American . The South Street complex was torn down several years after the newspaper's closing in 1986, and remained a parking lot and a source of controversy for Inner Harbor area redevelopment. With the construction of a massive tower initially named Commerce Place on the block between South and Commerce streets in 1991, the intersection and battleground of Baltimore and South Streets (and intersecting North Street [later Guilford Avenue]) are now relatively unknown for

1003-661: The Philadelphia Times . Ochs essentially gave Grasty the machinery. Grasty rebuilt the News and reopened within weeks. It is said that within 16 hours of the Fire, Grasty had acquired a new plant and three new printing presses for $ 150,000. "First Press Is Here", Baltimore American , Feb. 12, 1904; Charles Grasty to Richard Mansfield, June 30, 1906, NYPL/ms; See Mencken: the American iconoclast By Marion Elizabeth Rodgers. On June 18, 1906, Grasty and Gen. Felix Agnus (owner of

1062-408: The " Great Baltimore Fire " of February 1904, which burned out both buildings. Publication was temporarily shifted to other neighboring cities such as New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Charles and Baltimore Streets, at the geographic center of Baltimore, became the site of a new marble Beaux Arts classical-style publishing offices for The Sun papers for the next 45 years. The corner

1121-696: The "Newspaper Wars" that ebbed and flowed there through most of the 1800s. The tower was later renamed and made headquarters for the longtime local investment/financial/banking firm Alex. Brown & Sons following its takeover by Germany's Deutsche Bank . Another casualty of "The Great Fire" was the Baltimore Morning Herald . It had been founded in February 1900 and combined with the Baltimore Evening Herald on August 31, 1904, six months after its headquarters building at

1180-603: The College Tract on West 48th St. By 1911, Grasty used the pages of The Sun to back Democrat Woodrow Wilson in his successful bid for the Presidency in the Election of 1912 against Republican incumbent President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt of the then-new Progressive (Bull Moose) party. From 1915 until his death in 1924, Grasty lived mostly in London, where he also died. He

1239-608: The Evening News. Grasty lived at Fryer and Caprons in Roland Park, which today is the corner of Woodlawn Ave and Upland. The Roland Park development was said to be an innovation in early development of planned communities. Roland Park included a "store block" arranged in a linear pattern along a street to serve the commercial needs of a planned residential community. Similar store blocks were built in Los Angeles 1908 for

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1298-735: The Franco-Austrian War. Upon the conclusion of the war, he travelled to the United States and again briefly worked as a sculptor. In 1861, upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, Agnus enlisted in the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry , and served with merit, rising to brevet brigadier-general before being mustered out of service. Agnus was then inspector general of the Department of the South and supervised

1357-512: The Roland Park Company in the early 1890s, when he also assembled investors to back his acquisition of The Evening News in 1892, two decades after its founding, now one of the largest circulation papers in town. Through the pages of The Evening News he attacked local political corruption, ran sensationalist stories on highly illustrated pages using new technology for reprinting sketches and drawings resembling photographs to catch

1416-773: The Senate, but declined to accept the position. He served as the chairman of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Commission, a member of the Board of Visitors of West Point and of the commission that built the Baltimore Courthouse. He also was one of the original members of the Associated Press , a delegate to multiple Republican national conventions and a charter member of the Army and Navy Club . Agnus received

1475-503: The United States, where he financed their living. Grasty died January 19, 1924, and left Joan as his sole heir. Joan had only one child, Pete Robinson. Felix Agnus Felix Agnus (4 May 1839 – 31 October 1925) (born Antoine-Felix ) was a French-born sculptor, newspaper publisher and soldier who served in the Franco-Austrian War and the American Civil War . Agnus studied sculpture before enlisting to fight in

1534-431: The ancient Baltimore American ) teamed up to purchase The Baltimore Herald at the northwest corner of St. Paul and East Fayette Streets whose building had been ruined by the Fire, just across to the west from the untouched new massive City Circuit Courthouse, just completed four years earlier on the northern edge of the "Burnt District". They promptly shut it down, putting its nascent editor H.L. Mencken out of work for

1593-751: The beginning of the Civil War, Agnus enlisted in Duryée's Zouaves . At the Battle of Big Bethel , he saved the life of Captain Judson Kilpatrick , and was soon promoted to sergeant, 2nd lieutenant, and 1st lieutenant. In the Peninsula Campaign , Agnus led the charge at Ashland Bridge, and was severely wounded in the shoulder at the Battle of Gaines's Mill . Duryée's Zouaves were next stationed in Baltimore, Maryland, on Federal Hill, where

1652-485: The building was again renovated into the bank's headquarters for the next seventy years until another transformation after a series of bank mergers and out-of-town ownership take-overs in the early 2000s made it into apartments and condos. The Scripps-Howard Baltimore Post , a late-comer to the local newspaper scene, founded 1922 was later acquired and merged with The News by the Hearst Company in 1936 to create

1711-551: The city as its leading afternoon paper and later sold it prior to briefly acquiring the Minnesota Dispatch and the St. Paul Pioneer Press in the Upper Midwest in separate transactions then later divesting these newspapers to return again to Maryland to seek ownership of The Sun with a syndicate of wealthy backers. Grasty was also one of the developers of the new northern suburban Roland Park community in

1770-686: The death of Fulton. Agnus, who was born in Paris and having earlier served in the Imperial French Army of Napoleon III , was a major with the 165th New York Regiment and late in the war he was breveted a brigadier general in March 1865, and he continued using the title after retiring. He became very active in a variety of civic, social and political affairs of the city, including heading up the Centre Market Commission, which

1829-483: The dismantling of Confederate forts. After the war, Agnus settled in Baltimore and worked for the Baltimore American , eventually becoming publisher of the paper. Charles Fulton, the previous publisher, was his father-in-law, Agnus having married Fulton's daughter Annie on 13 December 1864. As the publisher, Agnus was an original member of the Associated Press , and a prominent citizen in Baltimore. He

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1888-438: The earliest "skyscraper" construction technique of 1851. Built opposite later in 1873, was The News office/printing establishment featured a mansard roof and a corner clock tower. Longtime owner/editor Charles H. Grasty , who bought the Evening News in 1892, directed the newspaper's coverage of the burgeoning, gritty late-19th Century city, using advanced presses and techniques of graphics, line drawings. and larger headlines in

1947-555: The early 1890s by the Roland Park Company development firm, said to be an early innovation in community planning, including planned shopping centers and other aspects of the community prior to being offered for sale and development. Charles H. Grasty was born March 3, 1863, in Fincastle, Virginia , the son of a Presbyterian minister, the Reverend John Sharshall Grasty, and the former Ella Giles Pettus. He

2006-428: The early 1970s. A series of format changes and staff realignments that alienated many readers under a new editing regime in 1977, along with new problems – delivering an afternoon paper through the after-work day traffic congestion ("drive time") to the outer suburbs, and changing evening leisure habits of the middle classes not allowing much time for paper reading – caused circulation to gradually decline after it had been

2065-531: The early 1990s when the editions became similar until September 15, 1995, when the evening paper was finally discontinued with a sad banner "GOOD NIGHT, HON" and many of its features and staff combined with the morning paper, which eventually was renamed and publicized as The Baltimore Sun by 2005. In 2000, Times-Mirror Company merged with the Tribune Company of the Chicago Tribune to form

2124-537: The largest in the metro area. The paper's last edition was published on May 27, 1986, with the headline: "SO LONG, BALTIMORE", and its demise left The Baltimore Sun (founded 1837, it had just coincidentally been sold several weeks earlier by the longtime family publishers A.S. Abell Company to the national syndicate and newspaper chain Times-Mirror Company of the Los Angeles Times ) as

2183-672: The local competing papers and compete against The Sun . After taking control of the Sun , Grasty acquired the Baltimore World at auction in April 1910 for $ 63,000, overpaying, but fearing a play by William Randolph Hearst to enter the Baltimore market. Grasty retired in 1915 and went to Europe as a war correspondent for the Kansas City Star . He returned to the U.S. in 1916, served as the Treasurer for The New York Times , before boredom caused him to return to Europe and his work as

2242-472: The loss of power by longtime incumbent Democrats under Arthur Pue Gorman , who lost the United States Senate seat from which he had dominated Maryland politics for years. In addition, he saw the unseating of I. Freeman Rasin , Gorman's ally and "Boss" along with John J. "Sonny" Mahon who were in control of Baltimore, who was defeated for City Council. Grasty's 1893 accusations against Democratic politicians for their involvement in gambling schemes earned him

2301-569: The morning American from Agnus and the afternoon News from Grasty in 1923 from another newspaper mogul Frank A. Munsey (who also owned the New York Herald , New York Sun , New York Telegraph and Washington Times ). Known as the "Dealer in Dailies" and the "Undertaker of Journalism", Munsey purchased The News in 1908, just two years after the paper had been forced out from its burned-out headquarters across from The Sun into

2360-520: The northwestern corner of St. Paul and East Fayette Streets was consumed by the blaze. The massive City Circuit Courthouse (now the Clarence Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse ) just to the east across the street, completed four years earlier, was unharmed. The paper's young editor, employed for four years since graduating from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute , Henry Louis Mencken was displaced from his office and arrangements had to be made to print

2419-411: The owner of a new large local bank known as The Munsey Trust Company, founded in 1913 and later reorganized in 1915 into The Equitable Trust Company with Munsey as chairman of the board. It became one of the city and state's largest financial empires into the 1990s. However, by 1924, when The News moved to new offices and printing presses at East Pratt and Commerce Streets facing the waterfront's wharves,

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2478-574: The paper in another city and ship it back into Baltimore. Several years later, in June 1906, The Herald was bought out by competitors Grasty and his News joined with Gen. Felix Agnus , owner/publisher of The Baltimore American and the staff, assets and resources divided between the two older papers that were now the largest in the city. Mencken described his early reporting years in the second volume of his autobiographical trilogy Newspaper Days published in 1941. The Baltimore American , claimed to be

2537-412: The readers eye rather than the traditional lines of text. But at the same time maintained political independence. He came out against the then half-century old competing newspaper of The Sun as a rival for its willingness to ignore Baltimore political corruption, though over a decade later, he would return to take control of that newspaper. His efforts to root out corruption in Baltimore politics ensured

2596-471: The short days before the advent of printed page photographs. Competing with "the other paper" across the street, bulletin boards, chalk boards across the second floor front of the building and hawking "newsies" (newspaper delivery boys) with the latest news, telegraphed election results made the intersection the hottest place to be in the Victorian downtown central district. All this perished in smoke with

2655-444: The sole broad-circulation daily in Baltimore, but it was not announced publicly until after the surprise folding of its main competitor. The stunning news of the multimillion-dollar sale was just announced several days after equally stunning closure of News American , leaving The Sun published in the morning and The Evening Sun (founded 1910) in the afternoon as the only papers left. Separate staffs and content were maintained until

2714-457: The street from The Sun ' s older architectural landmark " Sun Iron Building " of 1851, on the southwest corner, constructed of newly popular cast iron architecture style and supposedly fireproof and an early version of a tall commercial office building that gained increasing popularity in American big cities known as the skyscraper . Grasty ran The News for a number of years greatly increasing its circulation and cultural and civic impact on

2773-482: The traditional Hearst stylized eagle. For the first time, the paper was referred to without the city name on the masthead. A new printing presses plant structure was constructed in the center of the block between East Pratt and East Lombard Streets. It joined previous structures facing opposite directions with loading docks on the east side facing Commerce Street and a large brick wall facing the South Street side on

2832-547: The west. A huge anodized aluminum name plate was attached, visible from both streets and passing traffic, next to a new entrance lobby (with exhibits and display boards with history of the newspapers). Entrances on Pratt and Lombard were closed. The paper used a new postal address on South Street. Charles H. Grasty Charles Henry Grasty (March 3, 1863—January 19, 1924) was a well-known American newspaper operator who at one time controlled The News an afternoon paper begun in 1871 and later The Sun of Baltimore ,

2891-562: The wounded Agnus was billeted on Charles C. Fulton, publisher of the Baltimore American. It is surmised that it was during this time that he met his future wife, Fulton's daughter Annie. He helped raise four companies of the 165th New York Infantry Regiment , in which he was given the captaincy of the color company. In late 1862 his regiment was sent to Louisiana , and garrisoned at New Orleans and Baton Rouge . Captain Agnus

2950-534: Was a bright youth and taught Latin while in high school when there were limited small numbers of secondary schools and students in the early 1880s. At age 16, he entered the University of Missouri to study law, but left before graduating to enter the newspaper business. He stayed on at a summer job reporting for the Mexico Intelligencer paying $ 6 a week, and then was offered $ 7 a week to join

3009-486: Was appointed to assistant assessor in the Internal Revenue Service office in Baltimore. He worked for, and was eventually given charge of the business department of the Baltimore American on 4 July 1869, and later became its publisher. Agnus helped to greatly expand the newspaper. In 1897 the politician George L. Wellington sued Agnus for libel. In 1904, a fire burnt down the headquarters of

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3068-469: Was called "The Basin" and its wharves, and today is known as the Inner Harbor. It, too, was built after the 1904 Great Fire, which devastated most of downtown Baltimore. An additional office building a block north, facing East Lombard Street, was built later in 1924 and supplemented with a more modern printing plant between the two buildings along the South Street side in 1965 after the final merger of

3127-471: Was educated at College Jolie Clair , near Paris, and, in 1852, set out on a voyage around the world for four years. Upon returning, Agnus studied sculpting. He abandoned school to fight in the Franco-Austrian War . He served in the 3rd Regiment, and fought in the Battle of Montebello . When the war ended in 1859, he emigrated from France first to Newport, Rhode Island , and later New York City , where he worked for Tiffany and Company . On 25 April 1861, at

3186-589: Was in the Department of the South , as inspector general of the Department, where he was commissioned to dismantle old Confederate forts in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and turn all the property over to the U.S. government. He received the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 March 1865, making him the youngest brigadier-general in the army at the time. Agnus was mustered out of service on 22 August 1865. On resuming civil life he

3245-628: Was known as the local connection for information, and was at the Versailles Peace Conference near Paris in 1919 to discuss the issues ending World War I . While living in London, Grasty fathered a daughter, Joan "Winifred" Bennett Grasty, with an Englishwoman named Louisa Bennett in 1919. Grasty and his wife Leota had no natural children together. Grasty remained involved in the life of his daughter, and paid for Joan's education in France and later moved Joan and her mother Louisa to

3304-496: Was nicknamed "Sun Square." The Baltimore American had a towering office skyscraper, the American Building, quickly rebuilt on the same site with a distinctive elaborate green ground floor with gold lettering showing the newspaper's logo and masthead and the dates 1773 and 1904 over the doorways. An additional printing plant several blocks south was located on East Pratt between South and Commerce streets, facing what then

3363-472: Was offered political positions, including as a United States Senator and a United States Consul , both of which he declined. He served on several local and national commissions. Agnus died in 1925. A funerary statue formerly placed on his grave, known as Black Aggie , is the subject of urban legends . Felix Agnus was born in Lyon , France, on 4 July 1839, to Felix-Etienne Agnus and Anne née Bernerra Agnus. He

3422-696: Was responsible for rebuilding the Market Place after the devastation caused by the Great Baltimore Fire of February 1904. He was also very proud that his new skyscraper for the American was the first to be completed in early 1905 in the "burnt district." He died in October 1925 at 86, several years after selling the paper to a very controversial and often hated man in America. William Randolph Hearst's Hearst Company newspaper empire acquired

3481-420: Was wounded on 27 May 1863, during the siege of Port Hudson , he was promoted to major on 2 September, and for a time had command of his regiment. He served in Texas, and, after attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel, was ordered eastwards to join the 19th Corps . He served under General Philip Sheridan , taking part in the battles of Opequon , Fisher's Hill , Winchester , and Cedar Creek . His last service

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