Santa Rosa / California / United States
The very first newspaper in Santa Rosa, Calif., the forerunner to what is now The Press Democrat, was begun in 1857. Called the Sonoma Democrat, this newspaper was a four-page weekly. Its name reflected the 19th century journalistic tradition where papers existed as house organs of political parties. The paper was sold in 1897 to Ernest L. Finley, owner of The Evening Press. He merged the two papers and renamed the new publication The Press Democrat. In 1985, The Press Democrat was sold to The New York Times Company. In August 1985, three months after its takeover of the newspaper, The New York Times Company began construction on a $31 million, 78,000-square-foot Rohnert Park production plant. Today, with a readership of about a quarter of a million adults, The Press Democrat is one of the largest newspapers between San Francisco and the Oregon border.
