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25-586: Though its history dates back to 1847, the Sun Journal has existed in its current iteration since 1989, when Lewiston's two largest newspapers, the morning Lewiston Daily Sun and afternoon Lewiston Evening Journal were combined into one publication. Long owned and published by the Costello family, the newspaper was purchased by Reade Brower , owner of MaineToday Media , in 2017. In August 2023, The National Trust for Local News completed its purchase of

50-730: A fierce rivalry until Wood purchased the Journal from the Dingley family on February 1, 1926, moving production from the Dingley Building to The Sun' s facility at 104 Park Street in Lewiston. By 1945, when Wood died, the Sun and Journal were the fourth and fifth most-read dailies in the state with circulations of 27,480 and 14,088, respectively. Wood's heir was Louis B. Costello , who began as The Sun' s business manager in 1898 and

75-706: A positive light. During his tenure, he served for a time as president of the Maine Daily Newspaper Publishers Association and of the Maine Members of the Associated Press . Costello was named a trustee of Androscoggin County Savings Bank in 1916 and remained on the board until 1956. Androscoggin was the largest savings bank by assets held centered in Lewiston and one of the largest in

100-486: A trained photography department in the 1930s, but strongly resisted the growth of non- print media , going as far as firing his general manager, Frank S. Hoy, when Hoy purchased the license for radio station WLAM without permission. Though the Sun grew during an era of political domination by the Maine Republican Party and historically embraced an " independent Republican " label, Costello stressed

125-585: The Lewiston Evening Journal and promoted Costello to treasurer and general manager of the papers' publishing company. Costello served in this position until Wood's death in 1945, when he took over as owner and president. By this time, the Sun and Journal were the fourth and fifth most-read dailies in the state with circulations of 27,480 and 14,088, respectively. Costello was generally conservative in his management style. He took interest in new technological developments, investing in

150-546: The Lewiston Falls Journal . In 1857, former employee Nelson Dingley Jr. became owner and publisher, and the paper entered into full-time daily publication in April 1861. It rebranded in 1866 as the Lewiston Evening Journal . In 1893, The Lewiston Daily Sun emerged as a competitor and would, under the stewardship of George W. Wood, became the leading morning daily in the region. The two papers maintained

175-468: The Republican -leaning Lewiston Evening Journal , it proclaimed itself in its first issue as "the only Democratic daily paper published in central Maine." Five years later, it was purchased by George W. Wood, who merged the paper with his weekly Maine Statesman and changed its editorial stance. In its first two decades, circulation quadrupled from 2,000 copies per day to 8,000, thanks largely to

200-657: The Sun Journal as well. Lewiston Daily Sun The Lewiston Daily Sun was a newspaper published in Lewiston, Maine . Established in 1893, it became the dominant morning daily in the Lewiston- Auburn city and town area . In 1926, its publisher acquired the Lewiston Evening Journal and published the two papers until they merged into the Sun Journal in 1989. Henry Wing founded The Lewiston Daily Sun on February 20, 1893. Hoping to compete with

225-802: The Bates College chapel, he was buried in Riverside Cemetery , alongside his wife, who preceded him in death two years earlier. In his will, he left $ 5,000 each (equivalent to $ 52,260 in 2023) to Bates and the Lewiston United Baptist Church. As a result, the Costello Room in Bates' Chase Hall was named in his honor. His son, Russell, succeeded him as president of the Daily Sun company and oversaw

250-602: The Lewiston- Auburn community. In addition to running its largest morning and afternoon papers, he was a longtime trustee of both Bates College and the Androscoggin County Savings Bank , serving as the latter institution's president from 1931 to 1939. He was an active Freemason and member of the United Baptist church. Costello was born in Wells, Maine on September 14, 1876. His father

275-471: The Sun Journal celebrated 175 years of publication. The Sun Journal prices are: $ 2 daily, $ 3 Sunday. On October 1, 2007, the Sun Journal purchased Kirkland Newspapers of Farmington, the publisher of four weekly newspapers : The Sun Journal also owns The Forecaster , a free regional paper. The Advertiser Democrat , Bethel Citizen, and Rumford Falls Times (weeklies) are published by

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300-806: The United States' involvement in the World Disarmament Conference and opposing repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution . He was also a Freemason , having served as a past master of Rabboni Lodge No. 150 and as a member of the Knights Templar fraternal order. On June 15, 1952, in recognition of his achievements, including more than 30 years of service on Bates College's board of trustees, Costello

325-468: The arrival of Rural Free Delivery in the region. In 1926, Wood acquired the Lewiston Evening Journal and began printing the two papers from 104 Park Street in Lewiston. On his death in 1945, Wood left the paper to his general manager and nephew by marriage, Louis B. Costello . Costello's son Russell, who succeeded his father in 1959, merged The Sun and Evening Journal in 1989. The Sun embraced an " independent Republican " label from 1898 into

350-484: The five-year old Lewiston Daily Sun , merging it with his weekly Maine Statesman , and hired Costello as the paper's business manager . Thanks largely to the arrival of Rural Free Delivery in the region, which allowed for wider distribution within the Lewiston-Auburn city and town area , circulation increased from around 2,000 copies per day to 8,000 over the following two decades. In 1926, Wood acquired

375-447: The importance of journalistic objectivity to those who worked under him. His papers gained a reputation for being socially progressive but not so much as to alienate readers averse to change. Writing under the headline "A Leaf Out of My Notebook," he shared with Sun readers reports of his and Sadie's cross-country travels. All the while, he remained devoted to his home state, with editorials focused on portraying local communities in

400-507: The late twentieth century, as opposed to the Evening Journal , which identified as "independent." Still, manager Costello stressed the importance of journalistic objectivity to those who worked under him, and both papers gained a reputation for being socially progressive but not so much as to alienate readers averse to change. Louis B. Costello Louis Bartlett Costello (September 14, 1876 – May 6, 1959)

425-469: The merger of The Sun and Evening Journal into the Sun Journal in 1989. Russell passed the presidency of the paper on to his son, James, upon his own death in 1993. In 2017, the Costellos announced the sale of the Sun Journal to MaineToday Media owner Reade Brower. The Costello family home at 45 Campus Avenue was purchased by Bates College and provided office and student organization space for

450-516: The newspaper and included it in a new non-profit group of newspapers in Maine called the Maine Trust for Local News . The group began to control some other publications previously controlled by Brower. The lineage of the Sun Journal can be traced back to May 20, 1847, when printer William Waldron and future Governor of Maine , Dr. Alonzo Garcelon founded Lewiston's first paper, a weekly called

475-570: The state. In 1931, Costello was elected president of the bank when incumbent William J. Crawshaw resigned due to ill health. He served in this position for eight years, seeing it through the Great Depression , including its accepting of Emergency Banking Act aid in 1933. Costello was a United Baptist , a designation common among Maine members of the Northern Baptist Convention into the twentieth century. He

500-505: Was Nicholas H. Costello ( c.  1842 –1885), a sea captain who drowned when Costello and his sister were young. In 1889, his mother, Annie Hill Costello (1842–1927) remarried William S. Wells , a prominent York County lumberman who later served in the Maine House of Representatives . Costello attended Berwick Academy and gave an oration at the school's 1894 class day. Thereafter he attended Bates College , where he

525-503: Was a founding member of the Lewiston United Baptist Church. In the early 1920s, he served on the building committee for that congregation's now-demolished English Gothic home at the corner of Bates and Main streets, where Sadie taught religious school for many years. In 1932, he was named second vice president of the Maine United Baptist Convention; that year, convention delegates passed resolutions praising

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550-404: Was an American newspaper publisher and banker who served as general manager and then president of The Lewiston Daily Sun and Lewiston Evening Journal in Lewiston, Maine . He began his career in journalism while still a student at Bates College and, by the end of his life, was a leading press figure in the state. For nearly a half century, Costello was one of the most prominent members of

575-402: Was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by university president Charles Phillips . Other recipients honored at the ceremony were New Jersey Governor Alfred E. Driscoll , financier Frank Altschul , filmmaker Louis de Rochemont , and clergyman Daniel A. Poling . After a period of prolonged illness, Costello died at Central Maine General Hospital on May 6, 1959. Following services at

600-469: Was elected president of his senior class. He and Sadie Brackett, a fellow member of the class of 1898, wrote for The Bates Student . He was also a competitive debater and, after graduation, would participate in organizing a chapter of Delta Sigma Rho on Bates' campus. Costello and Brackett married in Lewiston on February 14, 1900 and had two children, Louise ( b. 1902) and Russell ( b. 1904). In 1898, Lewiston publisher George W. Wood purchased

625-533: Was promoted to general manager and treasurer of the papers' publishing company in 1926. He, in turn, left the papers to his son Russell, who, in 1989, combined the two papers form the Sun Journal . In 2017, the Sun Media Group was sold by the Costello family to Reade Brower, owner of MaineToday Media . The Sun Journal began publishing its Monday paper online-only March 2, 2020, along with three other Maine Dailies owned by MaineToday Media. On May 21, 2022,

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