“It was not that Boston lacked newspapers. On the contrary, there were ten competing papers in the city. However, none of them, including The Herald, which accounted for half of all the papers sold in Boston, was satisfactory to these gentlemen. They proposed to combine their money, reputations, and experience to launch a new paper that would be both enlightening and profitable. In less than a year, they failed at both.
“The first edition of the new Boston Daily Globe appeared on March 4, 1872. The Globe’s inaugural editorial promised “intelligent and dignified discussion of political and social ethics” with “ample and judicious attention” to literature and the arts. On Mondays, the front page included “The Sunday Pulpit,” a review of sermons delivered in area churches. There were notices of art exhibitions and theater openings and a column called “New Publications.”
“The new “semi-literary” newspaper was a dismal failure; circulation rarely exceeded 5,000. Within a year, most of the capital was gone; so too were the editor and all but one of the original investors.
“The man who stayedâand who saved the fledgling Globeâwas Eben Jordan. He had already turned an old-fashioned dry goods business into a world-class department store by introducing innovations and catering to his clientele. He had not lost faith that the paper could be commercially successful. All he needed was the right manager. In Charles H. Taylor he found his man.
“Although not yet 30, Charles Taylor had already distinguished himself as an army officer, printer, journalist, publisher, and politician. Now the Charlestown native brought to the Globe his energy, imagination, and understanding of the changing tastes of Boston readers. With Jordan’s backing, he began to transform the paper.
“The challenge was daunting. In 1872 the city had suffered a devastating fire, followed by a financial panic and an economic depression. Taylor knew he had to increase circulation in spite of the hard times. His first goal was to get the paper noticed. He advertised and promoted it relentlessly and staged publicity stunts. For example, he once published a review of French literature entirely in French. He marked the centennial of the revolution by running the paper’s first illustrationsâwoodcuts of Patriot heroes, historic buildings, and maps. He introduced cartoon illustrations to the Globe and the first-ever full-page adsâfor Jordan Marsh, of course.
“Taylor moved the sermons off the front page and replaced them with news stories. While he emphasized the sensational aspects of crime stories, he saw the Globe as more than a mere crime report or gossip sheet. He set two goals for the Globe: Every reader “must find his name in the paper at least once a year,” and “No story should appear . . . whose writer could not shake hands the next day with the man about whom he had written.”
“Taylor built readership by appealing to the tastes and interests of Boston’s changing population. By the 1870s the Boston area was home to many immigrants and to an increasingly sophisticated middle class. Recognizing the new role women were playing as household consumers and homemakers, in 1878 he introduced articles aimed specifically at women and children. He cut the price of the paper to make it affordable to more middle-class families.
“He started a Sunday edition especially targeted to these readers. Taylor wanted the Sunday paper to have a tone that was “pleasant, friendly, informal, homey, with human interest, and a neighborly interest too.” One popular feature of the Sunday paper was paper dolls and cut-out fashions for young readers. In 1879, the paper added an evening edition, which was published until 1979.
“Taylor also added reporters to cover the Irish community and the labor movement, as those constituencies began to play prominent roles in the life of the city. Although the Globe was almost alone among American newspapers in never taking a stand in any election, it generally supported Democratic causes and candidates. The Boston Democratic Committee returned the favor by asserting that it was “the duty of every Democrat in Massachusetts to aid personally in increasing the Globe’s circulation and influence.” In 1878, the editor declared that “the Globe will advocate all liberal measures which will advance the interests of the masses in their social and financial conditions.” The Globe advocated for woman suffrage, shorter hours for factory workers, and other progressive causes.
“Charles Taylor also embraced technological innovation. In 1877 the Globe arranged to receive the first news report ever sent by telephone. The next day the paper ran the headline, “The First Newspaper Dispatch Sent By Human Voice Over the Wires.” Taylor also invested in the newest presses and folding and trimming machines.
“By the 1890s the Globe was firmly established as a commercial and editorial success. Except for the 1930s and 1940s, when the rival Boston Herald Traveler temporarily surpassed it, the Globe remained the dominant paper in the city and the region.
“Eben Jordan made Charles Taylor a partner, and Taylor served as publisher of the Globe for nearly 50 years. Three generations of Taylor men followed in his footsteps; together with the Jordan heirs, the Taylor family controlled the paper for 125 years.
“For over a century, the Globe remained a private company, one of the few American newspapers not part of a larger chain. This era ended in 1993, when the Globe merged with the New York Times in the largest newspaper merger in U.S. history. The paper is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the New York Times Company.”
Sources
Famous Front Pages from The Boston Globe, 1872-1972 (The Boston Globe, 1972).
Boston Globe online
Newspaper Story: One Hundred Years of the Boston Globe, by Louis M. Lyons (The Boston Globe, 1971).
New York Times, June 11, 1993.
