San Francisco Chronicle
The "Chronicle" was founded by brothers Charles and M. H. de Young in 1865 as "The Daily Dramatic Chronicle", and inside of 10 years, it had the largest circulation of any newspaper west of the Mississippi River. The paper's first office was in a building at the corner of Bush and Kearney Streets. The brothers then commissioned a building from Burnham and Root at 690 Market Street at the corner of Third and Kearney Streets to be their new headquarters, in what became known as Newspaper Row. The new building, San Francisco's first skyscraper, was completed in 1889. It was damaged in the 1906 earthquake, but it was rebuilt under the direction of William Polk, Burnham's associate in San Francisco. That building, known as the "Old Chronicle Building" or the "DeYoung Building", still stands and was restored in 2007. It is an historic landmark and is the location of the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences.
History of newspapers in California
The first newspaper published by Americans in California was "The Californian", printed in Monterey in 1846 announcing the Mexican–American War, written half in English and half Spanish. The press was moved to San Francisco and printing started up again on May 22, 1847 in competition with the weekly "California Star" published by Mormon pioneer Sam Brannan, beginning that January. Both efforts suspended publication in the face of the California Gold Rush. By August, "The Californian" had resumed publication, but by November 1848, both papers were bought and merged then renamed the Alta California. The press that once printed "The Californian" was moved to the Sacramento area to be used on the "Placer Times". The press was again moved and began publishing the Motherlode's first paper, the "Sonora Herald", then taken to Columbia to print the "Columbia Star". Within a few years of gold discovery, mother lode towns all had multiple competing journals.