American Press Association

The American Press Association is a self-regulated non-governmental news press organization that is considered the oldest news press agency in the United States.[1]

History

In 1882,[a] the American Press Association was founded in Chicago by Maj. Orlando J. Smith, a Civil War veteran and American philosopher and former editor of the Terre Haute Mail, the owner and editor of the Terre Haute Express which he moved to Chicago in 1878 and renamed the Chicago Express.[3] Shortly after its founding, the Association relocated to New York City, with offices at 32 Vesey Street.[4] In 1891, Smith began syndicating humorist Edgar Wilson Nye's work, leading him to become the "most widely read and highly paid writer in the United States" at the time of Nye's death in 1896.[5] At the time of his death in 1908, the Association was "the largest newspaper syndicate in the United States."[3] Smith's son, Courtland Smith, succeeded him as president of the organization.[6] In February 1909, Dr. Albert Shaw wrote about Smith and the American Press Association in The American Review of Reviews stating:

"The greatest single educational influence of the United States is the country newspaper. And more than other man Major Smith made it possible for country newspapers to provide their readers with a fresh and accurate statement of the news of the world at large, of the country as a whole, and of their State or section, while also enabling them to keep abreast of progress in science, art, literature, and all things humanizing and progressive. He perceived with great clearness the opportunity for cooperative effort in the careful editing and economical production of newspapers: and he was able to give effect to his ideas so successfully as to have made him one of the great leaders in the fireside education of the masses of the plain people of America, most of whom still live in villages or upon farms."[7]

In 1911, the Association took out a long-term lease on a new a 150-foot, 12-story Neo-Classical office building at 225 West 39th Street.[8] The building, which cost $300,000, was designed by Mulliken & Moeller and built for the Land and Realty Company to replace "the vacant building of the old Second Reformed Presbyterian church, at 225 West Thirty-ninth street, adjoining the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum",[9] and thereafter became known as the American Press Association Building.[10][11]

Bankruptcy 1917 — The American Press Association, a West Virginia corporation organized in 1906 as a subsidiary of the New York association, filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy on December 3, 1917, in the New York federal court. It stated liabilities at approximately $1,164,800 and assets at $9,026.[12][13][14]

See also

References

Notes
  1. ^ According to Richard Allen Schwarzlose in his 1989 book published by Northwestern University Press, the APA newsbrokerage formed in 1870 (which had agreements with the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company in June 1870) was reorganized as the National Associated Press Company in the fall of 1876.[2]
Sources
  1. ^ "About Us | American Press Association (APA) throughout history". americanpressassociation.com. American Press Association. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  2. ^ Schwarzlose, Richard Allen (1989). The Nation's Newsbrokers: The rush to institution, from 1865 to 1920. Northwestern University Press. ISBN 978-0-8101-0819-6. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  3. ^ a b "MAJOR ORLANDO SMITH DEAD.; President of American Press Association Succumbs to Cancer". The New York Times. December 21, 1908. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  4. ^ "AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION". The New York Times. January 17, 1888. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  5. ^ Blair, Walter (1993). Essays on American Humor: Blair Through the Ages. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-299-13624-6. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Courtland Smith, Film Executive For Early Newsreels, Is Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. August 13, 1970. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  7. ^ French, Alvah P.; Clark, Will Leach (1925). History of Westchester County, New York. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 92a. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  8. ^ "IN THE REAL ESTATE FIELD; Dyckman Lots and 21st Street Loft in $1,500,000 Deal -- Madison Avenue and 28th Street Sold -- Important Development on West 55th Street -- Many Bronx Sales". The New York Times. February 15, 1910. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  9. ^ "The Bridgemen's Magazine". International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers. 1910: 161. Retrieved 11 June 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ^ Walsh, Kevin (June 11, 2018). "39th STREET, Midtown". forgotten-ny.com. Forgotten New York. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Garment Center Historic District Listed on the National Register of Historic Places". PR.com. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  12. ^ "American Press Association Fails". The Youngstown Daily Vindicator. December 3, 1917. p. 2. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  13. ^ "Press Asso. Bankrupt ; West Virginia Corporation Was Subsidiary New York Association". The Lewiston Daily Sun. December 4, 1917. p. 7. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Business Troubles: Receiver in Bankruptcy". The Sun, New York. December 5, 1917. p. 12. Retrieved 27 August 2023.