Merry Christmas The Chicago Daily News

Black text on an outer white edge with an illustration of Santa in front of a chiminey and starry night sky

The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon newspaper published between 1875 and 1978. It was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty to serve as a competitor to the Chicago Tribune. Initially, Chicago Daily News experienced low sales and was considered unsuccessful. To get it off the ground, Stone urged local merchants to sell his paper for 99 cents—rather than a dollar—to boost its circulation. His strategy worked, leading to greater sales for the remainder of the nineteenth century.

The newspaper was in its heyday from the 1930s to the 1950s. What contributed to its heightened popularity was its distinctive style of writing, which was likened to a “daily novel” by editor Henry Justin Smith. The concise paragraphs of the Chicago Daily News were short enough to be read by busy people who were on the go. The paper dissolved when the rights to the Chicago Daily News trademark were sold to Australian millionaire Rupert Murdoch in 1984.