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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The Detroit Times (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920

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About The Detroit Times (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920

The Detroit Evening Times was founded by James Schermerhorn. It began publication October 1, 1900 under the name Today. Schermerhorn learned printing from his father, who was editor of the Hudson Gazette. Schermerhorn succeeded his father as editor and publisher of the Hudson Gazette in 1886 until 1895. He then came to Detroit where we worked first for the Detroit publication the Evening News from 1895 to 1896 and the Detroit Free Press from 1896 to 1900. He left the Free Press to start the Times.

Schermerhorn brought an interesting editorial mix to his new newspaper. A Democrat, he had a particular interest in working class news. He consciously adopted a non-partisan editorial policy for his paper. In an introduction to the paper, he defined the Times purpose to be “a compact chronicle for toilful people, with nothing but news and an opinion or two.”

Unlike the majority of those who belonged to the Democratic Party, he was a staunch Prohibitionist, who eventually developed a national reputation as a speaker on the subject. One pundit, playing off of a stereotype that all “drys” were dull, boring people, announced that Schermerhorn couldn’t be for Prohibition because he had a sense of humor. His humor also regularly appeared in the Times. In their local history of the area, History of Wayne County and the City of Detroit (1930), Clarence M. Burton and M. Agnes Burton describe the Times as “a paper with a personality.” In particular, they describe Schermerhorn as having an “individualistic” style remarking that “Detroiters came to know and like the pithy and humorously pointed sentences which came from the Schermerhorn pen.”

In 1921, Schemerhorn’s financial difficulties led the paper to declare bankruptcy. It was eventually sold to representatives of William Randolph Hearst. The paper would continue to be owned by the Hearst chain until it was closed in 1960, and its assets were sold to the Detroit News.

Provided By: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Detroit Times (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920

Dates of Publication

  • 1903-1920

Created / Published

  • Detroit, Mich. : Detroit To-Day Co.

Headings

  • -  Detroit (Mich.)--Newspapers
  • -  Wayne County (Mich.)--Newspapers
  • -  Michigan--Detroit
  • -  Michigan--Wayne County
  • -  United States--Michigan--Wayne--Detroit

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily
  • -  3rd yr., no. 89 (Jan. 12, 1903)-21st yr., no. 50 (Nov. 27, 1920).
  • -  Independent. Cf. Ayer, 1960.
  • -  Publisher: W.E. Anderman, <1945>.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Detroit daily times (Detroit, Mich. : 1920) (DLC)sn 96076541 (OCoLC)34382991

Medium

  • volumes : illustrations ; 58 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83016689

OCLC Number

  • 9977557

ISSN Number

  • 2688-9390

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Detroit Times Detroit, Mich. -1920. (Detroit, MI), Jan. 1 1903. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83016689/.

APA citation style:

(1903, January 1) The Detroit Times Detroit, Mich. -1920. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83016689/.

MLA citation style:

The Detroit Times Detroit, Mich. -1920. (Detroit, MI) 1 Jan. 1903. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83016689/.