1880-1890.
The Chronicle was started as a six-column, two-cent paper, made up of short, pithy articles and “scare” headlines. Stanley Waterloo, since distinguished as a novelist, was the first managing editor, assisted by W.V. Byars, a well-known litterateur and journalist. Dr. John B. Wood, the “Great American condenser,” came from New York in 1882 to take charge. W.H. Little was editor for a time, but the personality of its editorial force has always been kept in the background. The Chronicle was the first paper in St. Louis to adopt the one-cent selling scale and thereby attained a very large circulation. It is independent in politics, and publishes no Sunday edition.
(From the Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri edited by Howard L. Conard, 1901).
The Evening Chronicle was established July 31, 1880, by the Chronicle Publishing Company, which was controlled by J.E. Scripps, of Detroit, who was successfully managing papers of a similar character in Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo. The Chronicle was a six-column, two-cent paper, and its leading features were the treatment of subjects in a crisp and unconventional way. It at once achieved great popularity, and is now one of the recognized newspaper institutions of the city. Stanley Waterloo was the first managing editor, and in November, 1882, he was succeeded by Dr. John B. Wood, a well-known journalist of New York, where he was for many years connected with the Sun, Herald, etc. Dr. Wood is known in the profession as “The Great American Condenser,” and was once president of the New York Press Club.
In 1880-81, C.M. Howell (who was also for a season city editor of the Republican) was city editor of the Chronicle. In 1882, W.V. Byars, a very capable writer of the Times and other newspaper staffs, was city editor. In August, 1882, he was succeeded by F.H. Burgess, formerly connected with several Michigan papers, and for some years associate editor of the Detroit Evening News.
Early in 1883 the Chronicle moved into a well-arranged newspaper building of its own on Sixth Street near Market.
(From the History of St. Louis City and County by John Thomas Scharf, 1883).
Also The Chronicle. Scripps-McRae, publishers.
