Eau Claire Press Company began with the merger of two daily newspapers and has grown to become a diverse company comprising four divisions. We are proud of our involvement in bringing the news to the Chippewa Valley. Eau Claire Press Company is committed to offering information to the people of the Chippewa Valley and presenting area advertisers with a variety of marketing options. The methods of delivering information have changed dramatically over the years; however, the commitment to deliver accurate local, state and world news has not changed.
The Eau Claire Press Company is owned by Adams Publishing Group, a family-owned community newspaper company based in Minneapolis.
Leader-Telegram History
Of the dozens of newspapers being printed in Eau Claire in the mid-1800s, two stood the test of time. The newspaper business was fiercely competitive in those days. Many efforts failed; however, the Eau Claire Leader and the Eau Claire Daily Telegram survived.
W. H. Lamb began the Eau Claire Leader in April 1881. At the time, the newspaper had a daily circulation of 300. The Leader was sold to William K. Atkinson in 1885. This morning paper grew to a circulation of 3,000 by 1889. In 1896, the Leader moved into a building at 407 South Barstow Street where it remained until 1912, when the Leader and the Telegram merged. The evening Eau Claire Daily Telegram was started in 1894 by William Irvine of Chippewa Falls. W. P. Welch and A. J. Rich purchased the Telegram in August 1895. Later, W. P. Welch, G. A. Bary and Charles Fiske incorporated the paper into the Telegram Publishing Co.
The Leader and Daily Telegram merged into the Eau Claire Press Company in 1912 under the Company’s first president, C. W. Fiske. The two papers were published from the same building at 405 South Barstow Street until moving to a new and larger facility at 701 South Farwell Street.
Ancestors of the Atkinson and Graaskamp families founded the Eau Claire Press Company and merged the two existing local papers: the Eau Claire Leader and the Daily Telegram. The Company's initial focus centered around the printing and publishing of these two local papers. On June 8, 1970, the two papers were merged into the afternoon Leader-Telegram.
After 130 years of ownership by the Atkinson and Graaskamp families, APG purchased the Leader-Telegram in June 2018.