Key Events in the Corporate History of the Associated Press News Service

1. 1846, May

   Five daily newspapers in New York form the Associated Press (AP) to share the costs of covering the Mexican-American War, establishing the first cooperative newsgathering organization in U.S. history

2. 1856

   Following a reorganization to establish defined rules of procedures, the first two formal Associated Press bureaus in the U.S. established in Washington, D.C. and Albany, New York

3. 1865

   Western Associated Press incorporates in Michigan

4. 1892, Dec.

   Associated Press incorporates in Chicago combining several regional news associations including the New York Associated Press, Southern Associated Press, and Western Associated Press among other others

5. 1918

   United States Supreme Court grants the AP the right to protect its method of news-gathering in INS v. AP