05/09/2026
The First
Welcome to a new occasional series. This one will comprise short histories of the first newspapers to appear in each of the States or Territories of the West.
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To start, what is “the West”? At different times in the USA’s history, the determination of the dividing line between East and West has varied. At first, it was the wooded land bordering the coastal settlements. Later, it was the western edge of the 13 colonies, roughly coinciding with the Appalachian mountains. However, for much of the 19th century, the accepted dividing line between East and West was the mighty Mississippi river. That is what we will use for this series.
The boundaries of many States appear generally arbitrary and include numerous straight lines. Therefore, it will be simple to look at each one from North to South, East to West. This means that we will start with Minnesota and will eventually reach California before going beyond the ‘Lower 48’ to look at Alaska and Hawaii. In all, there are 24 states west of the Mississippi so this occasional series will last a couple of years.
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1. Minnesota
The first newspaper to be published within Minnesota Territory was the “Minnesota Pioneer”, starting out on 28th April 1949 as a ‘weekly’.
The Pioneer was founded and edited by James Madison Goodhue who set up the territory’s first printing press in a small room in a carpentry shop in St. Paul.
Goodhue had been born in Hebron, New Hampshire, on 31st March 1810. He studied geology before fighting as part of the Wisconsin Regiment during the Black Hawk War, rising to the rank of Colonel. He later studied law in New York and became a member of the bar in 1840. After a little time spent farming in Illinois, he returned to his legal work. In late 1841, he was working as a lawyer in Platteville, Wisconsin.
In December 1843, he married Henrietta Kneeland who was a teacher. They soon moved to Lancaster, Wisconsin, where in 1844, Goodhue became the editor of the “Grant County Herald”. Within a couple of years, Goodhue was the owner of the whole Herald concern but the newspaper suffered financial difficulties so he packed it up and moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota.
In common with many newspapers in frontier areas, the Pioneer initially focused on championing the territory as a destination for settlers. Later, as other newspapers started up and rivalries emerged in the legislature, proprietors chose sides. Goodhue, who was known as having a “very forcible character” and “high moral principles”, decided that his publication would favor the Democratic Party.
James Madison Goodhue died on 27th August 1852, perhaps from dysentery after falling into the river not long before. It is also possible that he had never recovered fully from injuries received in February 1851 (which notable incident will be the subject of a forthcoming “Reasons to be Armed” post).
James’s brother Isaac took over the newspaper for a few months before selling it on.
On 1st May 1854 the current owner, Earle S. Goodrich, started a sister newspaper, the “Daily Minnesota Pioneer”. Mergers with other concerns followed during the 1850s but the Pioneer name persevered.
The Civil War caused newspaper owners and editors to fortify their political positions and the “Minnesota Pioneer” chose to remain Democrat. This was unpopular in a northern location where the general feeling was in favor of the Republicans so the Pioneer lost readership – but still managed to continue. Much of the lost readers gravitated to the “St. Paul Daily Press” and the “St. Paul Weekly Press”.
Over the course of less than ten years from November 1865, the Pioneer group was sold six times until, on 11th April 1875, the Pioneer titles joined with the St. Paul Press titles to become the “Saint Paul Pioneer Press” which, perhaps in recognition of its mixed origins, has a broad political neutrality.
Appearing less than two months after the creation of Minnesota Territory on 3rd March 1849, continuing through the establishment of Statehood on 11th May 1858 and, through its evolving guises, still existing in 2026, the “Minnesota Pioneer” has covered almost every major event in Minnesota’s history.
Not only the first newspaper in the territory/state but also the oldest continuously published newspaper in Minnesota.
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Photographs:
• J. M. Goodhue, c.1850
• Front page of the “Minnesota Pioneer” from 2nd January 1850.
References:
• Minnesota Historical Society, “Minnesota Pioneer”, available at https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/hub/the-minnesota-pioneer, accessed 5 September 2026.
• James M. Goodhue, available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Goodhue, accessed 5 September 2026.
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Richard F. Baker
Frontier Citizen®
✍️ 📰 🗞️ 🤠
