The Owatonna People's Press is a four-day daily newspaper serving Owatonna, Minnesota and surrounding communities and is considered the paper of record for Steele County. The Owatonna Area Shopper is also published in and around Owatonna.[2][3]
The People's Press was founded on September 2, 1874 by Benjamin E. Darby as a weekly four-page paper.[4]
Darby would serve as newspaper editor for 65 years, from 1874 until 1939.
The first issue of the Press, which predated public lighting in Owatanna, included a lengthy recounting of a county Convention that nominated candidates for various county offices.[5]
The paper was expanded to ten pages of news and advertising in 1900 when railroad lines began intersecting Owatonna.
Darby added a daily edition in 1916 named the Daily People's Press and discontinued the weekly edition in 1921.
In 1938, Darby bought and consolidated the Steel County pioneer weekly Owatonna Journal-Chronicle to the Press.
In 1969, the name of the paper was officially changed to the Owatonna People's Press.[6]
The Owatonna People's Press is currently published by Adams Publishing Group Inc. based out of Coon Rapids, Minnesota and printed in Princeton, Minnesota.
Once a morning daily, the People's Press reduced its frequency to four days a week as of February 2021, transitioned to an afternoon delivery schedule and regionalized coverage.
United States
