The Boston Post was a daily newspaper in New England for over a hundred years before its final shutdown in 1956. The Post was founded in November 1831 by two prominent Boston businessmen, Charles G. Greene and William Beals.
17-565: Edwin Grozier bought the paper in 1891. Within two decades, he had built it into easily the largest paper in Boston and New England. Grozier suffered a total physical breakdown in 1920, and turned over day-to-day control of the Post to his son, Richard . Upon Edwin's death in 1924, Richard inherited the paper. Under the younger Grozier, The Boston Post grew into one of the largest newspapers in
34-654: Is a private social club in Boston, Massachusetts , founded in 1886. Originally a business-themed gentlemen's club , it is now open to men and women of all races, religions, and nationalities. The Algonquin Club of Boston was founded by a group, including General Charles Taylor . Its clubhouse on Commonwealth Avenue was designed by McKim, Mead & White and completed in 1888, and was soon called "the finest and most perfectly appointed club-house in America" and more recently
51-718: The Boston Herald and The Boston Globe . He served as Governor George D. Robinson 's private secretary, and later as private secretary to Joseph Pulitzer . He later became the first city editor of the New York Evening World , and later its editor-in-chief. He took over The Boston Post in October 1891. Grozier was born at sea, as his father's ship approached the Golden Gate Bridge , near San Francisco . His father, Joshua Freeman,
68-486: The Post was the only paper published in the morning. Zain Advertising, launched a 10-week ad-writing contest with the Post , in an effort to engage and educate the public on the importance of advertising. Three hundred prizes were awarded each week for the best advertising suggestions on 24 products. Two grand prizes, $ 500 and $ 1000, were awarded at the end of the campaign; over 500-thousand entries were submitted over
85-638: The selectmen in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island towns. The Boston Post Canes were given to the selectmen with the request that the canes be presented in a ceremony to the town's oldest living man. The custom was expanded to include a community's oldest women in 1930. More than 500 towns in New England still carry on the Boston Post Cane tradition with the original canes they were awarded in 1909. According to H. W. Fowler ,
102-516: The 10-week period. The New England Historical Society wrote of the coverage of the 1911 murder of Avis Linnell by Clarence Richeson , saying, '"the crusading newspaper editor of The Boston Post , Edwin Grozier, brought him to grief...[putting] his reporters on the story. They found Richeson bought cyanide from a druggist in Newtown, Mass...the Post demanded a police investigation into the death of Avis Linnell."' Richeson ultimately confessed, and
119-589: The Boston Sunday Post"; later, as "Boston Sunday Post Sunday Magazine". The regular 20-page periodical has a magazine-like format that is essentially identical to the versions that accompanied other major newspapers in the early 1900s, featuring the same cover illustration, articles, short stories, serials , and advertisements. In 1909, under the ownership of Edwin Grozier, The Boston Post engaged in its most famous publicity stunt. The paper had 700 ornate, ebony-shafted, gold-capped canes made and contacted
136-498: The canes were presented in a ceremony to the town's oldest living man. The custom was expanded to include a community's oldest women in 1930. More than 500 towns in New England still carry on The Boston Post Cane tradition with the original canes they were awarded in 1909. Under his leadership, the Post became the leading U.S. newspaper in advertising volume, and advertisers recognized the Post as an opportunity for increased exposure. One Philadelphia advertising agency noted that
153-557: The country. At its height in the 1930s, it had a circulation of well over a million readers. At the same time, Richard Grozier suffered an emotional breakdown from the death of his wife in childbirth from which he never recovered. Throughout the 1940s, facing increasing competition from the Hearst -run papers in Boston and New York and from radio and television news, the paper began a decline from which it never recovered. When it ceased publishing in October 1956, its daily circulation
170-681: The first recorded instance of the term O. K. was made in the Boston Morning Post of 1839. Edwin Grozier Edwin Atkins Grozier (September 12, 1859 – May 9, 1924) was an American journalist, publisher and author, who owned The Boston Post from 1891 until his death. He authored the book, "The Wreck of the 'Somerset,'" first published in the New York World , May 1886. He graduated from Boston University in 1881, and worked at both
187-588: The newsbusiness in 1885, as private secretary to Joseph Pulitzer , and later as city editor of the New York World , (1887) and managing editor of The Evening World and the Sunday World (1889–1891). In October 1891, Grozier purchased controlling interest in The Boston Post , at a time when readership was low, with a circulation of less than 2500; the paper was on the verge of bankruptcy. However, in less than 25-years, Grozier grew
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#1732786875478204-606: The paper into the largest circulation morning newspaper in the country. In 1909, Grozier launched a public relations campaign aimed at increasing readership. He purchased 700 walking canes , and sent them out to 700 New England towns where the Post was published. The top of the African ebony, gold-tipped canes, were stamped with the words, "Presented by the Boston Post to the oldest resident of ... (name of town)." The Board of Selectmen in each town were to be trustees; ensuring
221-833: The papers investigation, until "the bubble burst," leaving millions of dollars in public money lost, as a large Trust company failed. Grozier died at his home on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts , on May 9, 1924, after having written two editorials that day. After his death, his son Richard succeeded him as editor and publisher of the Post . The city council in Cambridge, Massachusetts, renamed Hawthorne Avenue, to Grozier Road, in honor of his fathers accomplishments. Algonquin Club The Algonquin Club of Boston , presently known as The 'Quin House ,
238-475: Was 230,000. From 1904 through 1916, "Sunday Magazine" was a regular syndicated supplement to Sunday editions of newspapers in various cities across the United States, including The Boston Post , The Philadelphia Press , New-York Tribune , Chicago Tribune , St. Louis Republic , Detroit Free Press , and Minneapolis Journal . The supplement in Boston was initially titled "Sunday Magazine of
255-578: Was a member of numerous clubs and organizations, including the Algonquin Club of Boston , the Fellowcraft of New York, and the Belfry of Lexington. Grozier began his career in journalism, as a reporter at the Boston Herald and The Boston Globe from 1881–1883. He then spent a year, serving as Governor George D. Robinson's private secretary (1883–1884). Grozier returned to
272-662: Was a sea captain and native of Provincetown , Massachusetts; his mother, Mary Louise (Given), was a native of Bowdoinham . He attended high school in Provincetown, and attended Chauncy Hall school of Boston. He studied at Brown University, (1877-1879) in Providence , Rhode Island, and graduated from Boston University in 1881, with a bachelor's degree in philosophy . Grozier married Alice Goodell, native of Salem, Massachusetts , on November 26, 1885. They had two children, Richard (1837–1946) and Helen (b. 1889). He
289-486: Was executed. In 1920, under the leadership of his son, Richard Grozier , who had been day-to-day head of the paper since 1920, the Post won the Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service after exposing Charles Ponzi as a fraud. The newspaper expose covered individuals with political and financial ties to the scheme. Many community members, including authorities, did not believe the allegations, made during
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