The Dispatch Publishing Co. Building in Downtown Moline, Illinois |
|
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | The Small Newspaper Group |
| Publisher | Jerry Taylor |
| Editor | Roger Ruthhart |
| Founded | The Rock Island Argus:1853 The Dispatch: 1878 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 1720 Fifth Ave. Moline, Illinois 61265 United States |
| Circulation | The Dispatch: 31,752 The Rock Island Argus: 12,558 |
| Official website | qconline.com |
The Dispatch / The Rock Island Argus are daily morning newspapers based in Moline, Illinois, and circulated throughout the Quad City metropolitan area of Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Island County in Illinois; and Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa.
The newspapers are owned by the Small Newspaper Group, which is located in Kankakee, Illinois. The Dispatch has a circulation of 31,752[1] and The Rock Island Argus has a circulation of 12,558.[2]
Contents |
The Dispatch / The Rock Island Argus are essentially the same paper, but published separately under the names of the two original newspapers. The Dispatch traditionally served Moline while the Argus served Rock Island, Illinois.
The Argus, founded in Rock Island, is one of Illinois' oldest continuously published newspapers.[3] It can trace its origin to 1851 with the founding of a weekly paper called The Republican.[4] It became Rock Island County’s first daily two years later after it was purchased by Colonel J.B. Danforth. Because Danforth was a staunch member of the Democratic Party he had the paper’s name changed to the Rock Island Argus. The newspaper was purchased by John Potter in 1882 when the paper had 500 subscribers.[5] He died in 1898 and his wife Minnie took over the leadership of the paper and ran it until her death. In 1925 she had the newspaper plant built on Fourth Avenue in Rock Island. The Potter family operated the newspaper until 1986 when it was bought by the Small Newspaper Group.[3]
The first issue of the Moline Daily Evening Dispatch was produced in July 31, 1878.[6] It was started by Oliver and Louise White, who were publishers of The Molly Stark, a weekly newspaper in Toulon, Illinois. Competition forced them to sell the paper to Patterson S. McGlynn and John K. Groom. In the early to mid-20th century the paper was under the leadership of Harry Sward, Lee R. Blackman and August Sundine. It was under Sward’s leadership that the paper’s identity changed from one focused on Moline to Western Illinois and it became The Daily Dispatch.[6]
The Daily Dispatch was purchased by Len H. Small on February 28, 1969.[6] It was at this time that the newspaper started the conversion from the “hot metal” method of composition to computerized photocomposition. The plant was expanded in 1974 and the first Sunday edition was the paper was published on March 14, 1976.
After the Small Newspaper Group acquired the Argus in 1986 the two newspaper’s operations have been combined over time. In 1995 both papers switched from evening to morning publications. [3] Quad-Cities Online has been operated by the papers since 1994.[7] It provides local online news, weather, sports and event information. It has grown to include an online auction, QCHomes.com, a service for buying or selling real estate, and opportunities for banner, email and mobile advertising.[7] Jerry Taylor is the publisher of both papers and Roger Ruthhart is their managing editor.[3]