Minnesota’s first newspaper is 175 years old

Nick Woltman, Pioneer Press
Updated ·2 min read

In April 1849, the safety pin was invented.

The United States had just inaugurated its 12th president.

The fastest way to travel from the East Coast to the West Coast was a five-month steamship voyage around South America.

And the debut issue of the Minnesota Pioneer — the earliest ancestor of the Pioneer Press — was printed in the drafty spare room of a carpentry shop in downtown St. Paul, which was then just a muddy little river town of a few hundred inhabitants.

Cranked out one copy at a time on a cast-iron hand press by founding editor James Madison Goodhue and a pair of assistants, that first issue hit the streets 175 years ago, on April 28, 1849.

“But little more than one week ago, we landed at Saint Paul, amidst a crowd of strangers, with the first printing press that has ever rested upon the soil of Minnesota,” Goodhue wrote in his introductory editorial.

“All our interests are henceforth identified with the prosperity of this town and the welfare of this Territory.”

(Yes, territory. The Pioneer Press has been in business longer than Minnesota has been a state.)

Here is the front page of that first issue, which consisted of four pages in total:

The Saintly City and its newspaper have grown up together, sharing triumphs and tragedies. And though much has changed at the Pioneer Press over the past 175 years, the essential civic spirit espoused by our founder remains.

Pioneer Press marks 175th anniversary with commemorative photo book.

We still strive every day to tell the stories of our community with warmth and curiosity — and an admitted favoritism for St. Paul. We’re thankful for that opportunity and for all the people — readers, advertisers, business partners, colleagues, past, present and future — who make it possible.

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