Detroit Free Press

• 1. A Press by Wagon

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  The Detroit Free Press printed its first issue on the 5th of May, 1831. The Washington press used that day had been hauled by wagon from Pontiac over rough roads. It came from the discontinued Oakland Chronicle of Pontiac. Two people operated it, producing 250 pages per hour. The first editions measured 14 by 20 inches, set in five columns of type. The paper's full original title was the Democratic Free Press and Michigan Intelligencer. It was published from a building at Bates and Woodbridge streets in Detroit. That modest start launched a publication that would cover the city's fortunes for nearly two centuries. How did a partisan frontier paper become one of Michigan's defining institutions? What would happen when labor and management collided in the 1990s? How does a daily newspaper survive when the delivery model that sustained it for generations finally collapses? Sheldon McKnight served as the paper's first publisher, with John Pitts Sheldon editing the early issues.

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• 2. The Party Press

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  In 1835, the paper was renamed the Detroit Daily Free Press, making it the first daily newspaper in the region. By the 1850s, Wilbur Storey's ownership had turned it into a leading Democratic Party publication. Storey departed for the Chicago Times in 1861 and took much of the editorial staff with him. Control then passed to William E. Quinby, who sustained the paper's Democratic identity. Quinby also made a striking geographic move, establishing a London, England edition of the Free Press. In 1904, an investor group that included journalist Otto Carmichael of the Detroit Journal acquired the paper. That group sold it five years later for a substantial sum. Knight Newspapers, which would later become Knight Ridder, purchased the Free Press in 1940. The new owner inherited a publication with nearly a century of partisan editorial tradition.

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• 3. Detroit's Newspaper War

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  Under Knight Newspapers, the Free Press competed against two rivals: The Detroit News and the Detroit Times. On the 7th of November, 1960, that three-way contest ended when The Detroit News purchased the Detroit Times and closed it. The Freep had been operating as a night paper, with home deliveries going out after 7 pm until around 1966. Around 1965, it also launched the Blue Streak Edition, a morning version sold at newsstands. During that period the paper was printing two editions a day. The Detroit News, meanwhile, sold as an afternoon paper. Those parallel schedules gave the two surviving papers distinct corners of the city's news day. By 1989, the Free Press had grown into the tenth-highest circulation daily in the United States. That year it entered a joint operating agreement with The Detroit News.

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• 4. The Strike of '95

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  In 1989, the combined Sunday edition of both papers ranked as the country's fourth-largest Sunday newspaper. Business operations ran through a single company called the Detroit Media Partnership, while each paper kept its own editorial staff. The two papers also began publishing joint Saturday editions. Six years into that arrangement, on the 13th of July, 1995, workers at both papers walked out. The Newspaper Guild, along with pressmen, printers, and Teamsters working for the Detroit Newspapers distribution arm, all joined the walkout. By October, roughly 40 percent of Free Press editorial employees had crossed the picket line. Others drifted back over the following months; some held out for the full two and a half years. A court settled the dispute three years after the walkout began. The unions stayed on, representing a majority of employees in their jurisdiction. On the 26th of June, 1998, the Free Press left its former downtown headquarters and moved into The Detroit News building.

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• 5. Contraction Era

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  On the 3rd of August, 2005, Knight Ridder sold the Free Press to the Gannett Company. Gannett already owned The Detroit News at that time. It then sold The News to MediaNews Group while staying on as the managing partner in the joint operating agreement. On the 7th of May, 2006, the Free Press resumed its own Sunday edition. The Detroit News no longer contributed content to it, though The News did print its editorial page there. Two years later, on the 16th of December, 2008, the Detroit Media Partnership announced a cut in weekday home delivery. Starting the 30th of March, 2009, home delivery would only go out on Thursdays and Fridays. On other weekdays, the newsstand edition ran about 32 pages. Also in March 2009, the Free Press partnered with CBS-owned WWJ-TV on Channel 62 to produce a morning show called First Forecast Mornings. WWJ had not aired any local news before that partnership. In February 2014, the Detroit Media Partnership announced a move to the former Federal Reserve building at 160 West Fort Street. Both papers would occupy six floors there. The move took place in October of that year. In June 2015, Gannett divided itself into two companies. Its television and digital operations became Tegna. Its print operations continued as a new Gannett. Ahead of GateHouse Media's purchase of Gannett, the paper cut four staff positions in November 2019. The Gannett board finalized the purchase agreement on the 19th of that month. In December 2024, the paper relocated to Clifford Street in the Grand Circus Park Historic District. The building's owner, Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Management Services, had announced plans to redevelop 160 West Fort Street. In January 2025, the printing facility in Sterling Heights, Michigan was closed. One hundred fifteen jobs were lost, and printing for 32 newspapers transferred to other plants. About six months later, Gannett announced it would not renew the joint operating agreement, which was set to expire at year's end. On the 28th of December, 2025, that agreement officially ended.

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• 6. Notable Voices

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  The Detroit Free Press has earned ten Pulitzer Prizes and four Emmy Awards over its history. In 2018, it also received two Salute to Excellence awards from the National Association of Black Journalists. The roster of people who worked there includes names that became prominent across American journalism and culture. Mitch Albom, Jemele Hill, Robin Givhan, Frank Bruni, and Ellen Goodman all worked at the paper. So did David Cay Johnston, Lee Hills, and Gene Roberts. Al Neuharth, Jack Ohman, and Kurt Luedtke are also among the alumni. Among the paper's supplementary publications was Screen and Radio Weekly, which ran from 1934 to 1940. The Free Press carries the motto "On Guard for Years". That phrase has accompanied the paper through ownership changes, a major labor strike, and a thirty-six-year joint operating agreement that ended in 2025.

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