HistoryView: Modesto Bee: 1884-2024
By Harrison Power
With the news about the Modesto Bee’s upcoming transition away from daily printed papers to mail-based delivery just three days a week, this marks the most recent of numerous changes for the Modesto Bee over its lengthy history serving Modesto area residents. From early mergers, name updates, to changes in ownership, the Modesto Bee has transformed with the times in attempts to best survive changing conditions over its nearly 140 years of publishing Modesto’s news. With December 2024 marking the 140th anniversary of its first publication under the Bee’s predecessor, and although recent reductions in service do impact Modesto’s access to local printed news, residents of Modesto should do what they can to support print media in the Valley and prevent against its relegation to the paper waste basket.
Modesto and the greater Stanislaus County area were served by a number of local newspapers and periodicals, many of which were founded and managed by John Dillard Spencer (1839-1895). One of his publications was the Daily Evening News, which was first published on December 1, 1884 at Spencer’s printing office located at the corner of I and 11th Streets west of the courthouse. When first released, $5.00 could buy you a one year subscription, $3.00 a six month subscription, and $1.50 a three month subscription. Spencer was deeply involved in area politics – he was elected in 1879 to serve in the California Assembly, later went on to be elected twice in 1882 and 1884 to serve in the California Senate, and then was appointed by Governor Stoneman and subsequently elected to serve as Clerk of the California Supreme Court until 1891. Prior to J.D. Spencer’s arrival to Modesto in 1870, he had published the Tuolumne City News in 1868, which would be abandoned and changed over to the Stanislaus County (Weekly) News starting December 9, 1870, making it one of the first if not the first newspapers published in Modesto. An early competing daily paper, the Modesto Herald then Modesto Morning Herald, was located at 726 10th Street – which is still standing today and is City Landmark #10.
With Spencer’s death in 1895, the Daily Evening News continued with regular publishing overseen by Spencer’s estate, and then was overseen by a small number of different editors and managers. Starting June 27, 1902, the newspaper changed its name to The Modesto News. After a decade of publishing under that moniker, the newspaper changed ownership to publishers E.L. Sherman and S.T Morgan, at which point the name was updated to the Modesto Evening News starting January 3, 1913. By the 1920’s a pattern of local newspaper consolidation was taking place, and in Modesto, E.L. Sherman merged the Modesto Evening News and the Modesto Morning Herald in November 1924. After the merger for a brief period of time, both papers maintained separate management and separate publication, but starting on March 31, 1925, Sherman ceased publication of separate periodicals and merged the two papers into one newspaper, named the Modesto News-Herald.
Sherman published the Modesto News-Herald until it was purchased from him by the McClatchy Family on August 21, 1927. The McClatchy Family continued publication before yet another name change, to The Modesto Bee and News-Herald starting on July 26, 1933. The lengthy header was kept in place for over 40 years, until it was finally shortened to The Modesto Bee starting on October 19, 1975.
The 140-year history of “the Bee” is deeply rooted in the foundation of Modesto, built on the lineage of early news proprietors, journalists, and printers who contributed to increased access to local news to allow for an educated and engaged public amidst a new city and growing population. Times and readership have changed, but reading and supporting the Modesto Bee and other periodicals helps to maintain our community’s legacy of local news.
