Sarah Lim: Sun-Star celebrates a special milestone

The Merced Sun-Star turned 90 on Friday. Although it traces its roots to 1869, the first issue of the modern day Sun-Star was printed on May 1, 1925, after the Merced Evening Sun merged with the Merced Morning Star. The union of these two papers not only reduced the number of newspapers in the city, but also ended a half-century old-rivalry among several papers.

The Argus (1869-90)

The genealogy of the Sun-Star begins with the San Joaquin Valley Argus, a weekly newspaper that was first published on Aug. 28, 1869, by Robert J. Steele in Snelling. After the new town of Merced was established in 1872 and chosen as the new county seat, Steele moved the Argus to Merced in 1873. Steele’s wife, Rowena Granice Steele, started the first daily newspaper, the Merced Daily Argus, in Merced County on Oct. 4, 1886.

The San Joaquin Valley Argus and the Merced Daily Argus were sold to Justus Hubbard Rogers and Charles Daniel Radcliffe in December 1890. By this time, Robert Steele had died, Rowena had retired, and their son Lee R. Steele served as the publisher and editor of the Argus.

The Sun (1891-1925)

In addition to the Argus, Rogers and Radcliffe also purchased the Merced Journal, a short-lived weekly newspaper that served as a vehicle for the aggressive temperance group led by District Attorney John W. Breckinridge, and created The Sun in 1891. Thus, three papers were consolidated into two, the daily Merced Evening Sun and the weekly Merced County Sun. The Evening Sun succeeded the Daily Argus when the first issue was printed on Jan. 19, 1891. The County Sun inherited the volume numbering of the San Joaquin Valley Argus, thus making it a successor to the pioneer newspaper in Merced County.

In January 1901, the Evening Sun abandoned the Daily Argus volume numbering and adopted the County Sun’s volume numbering. When the Merced Sun-Star issued its first paper on May 1, 1925, it continued the Evening Sun’s number as Vol. LXIX, No. 99. The last issue of the Evening Sun printed on April 30, 1925, was numbered Vol. LXIX, No. 98.

The Star (1880-1925)

Since the “paternal” linage of the Sun-Star has been established, what about the “maternal” side, The Star? The Merced Star, launched in June 1880 by Thomas and Charles Harris, was also a weekly newspaper in competition with the San Joaquin Valley Argus and the weekly Merced Express whose publication dated back to 1875. The Merced Star became a daily newspaper and was renamed the Merced Morning Star in April 1921 when Walter H. Killam purchased the paper.

The Sun-Star (1925-present)

So on May 1, 1925, Hugh and Ray McClung consolidated the Merced Evening Sun and the Merced Morning Star, which gave birth to the Merced Sun-Star. With this move, along with the agreement made with the City and County of Merced, the Sun-Star controlled the newspaper market in the county and put an end to the newspaper rivalry that often was embroiled with local politics and had resulted in bloodshed and lawsuits.

Newspaper rivalry

It all began when the San Joaquin Valley Argus engaged in a bitter battle with its rival the Merced Tribune, a new weekly newspaper in Merced. Before the Tribune, the Argus was given the contract of printing county notices because it was the only major newspaper in the county. This all changed when the Board of Supervisors awarded the contract to the Tribune and its editor Edward Madden. According to the board minutes dated May 9, 1873, “It is ordered by the Board that the proposition of Edward Madden be accepted, and his is awarded the contract to do the printing for the County for one year at $1.00 per square.”

Calling the Tribune the county pet, Steele writes, “The truth is, that the Board of Supervisors and the Clique know that their pet, servile slave, and the cringing organ could not live three months without official pap, while the ARGUS has increased in vigor and prosperity upon the patronage give it with a free, good will by the people of the county.” (San Joaquin Valley Argus, May 10, 1873)

Dismayed by favoritism, Steele began his crusade to scrutinize the activities of county officials and wrote editorials about the wrongdoings of those who supported the Tribune. Madden fought back with sharp criticism of the Argus, but he went beyond professional discourse when he launched personal attacks on the character of Steele’s wife, Rowena. In defense of his mother’s honor, Harry Granice, Rowena’s son, shot and killed Madden on Dec. 7, 1874, after Madden refused to retract his insulting comments. Following this, the Merced Tribune soon went out of business.

Picking up where the Tribune left off, the Merced Express came into existence in 1875. Like its predecessor, the Express maintained close ties with many county officials and competed against the Argus for county printing contracts. The Express was first run by a board of directors including the Clique member Judge J. W. Robertson and Patrick Carroll. Carroll’s lawsuit against Harvey J. Ostrander for a debt of $160 in 1877 led to the suspension of the Argus’ publication for over 10 months.

According to Rowena Granice Steele, this lawsuit had nothing to do with the Argus. But mysteriously, Constable Edward Packer, who had testified against Harry Granice in the Madden murder case, came to seize the Argus office and confiscated its belongs on March 10, 1877, under the pretense that the ownership of the paper had something to do with Ostrander’s debt. The property was not returned to Steele until March 1878, two months after the Argus resumed publication.

In its remaining years, the San Joaquin Valley Argus was less political and more social, but ongoing editorial rivalry was sustained by the Democratic Merced Express and the Republican Merced Star. Such political rivalry was often polite and even insightful; however, it came to an end in 1925 when the Merced Sun-Star consolidated Merced’s daily newspapers.

As we celebrate the Sun-Star’s special milestone, we should cherish the fact that we have a community newspaper that brings timely local news in the age of digital media. For more history about Merced County, please visit the Courthouse Museum. Now on display is the “Promoting Merced: A County of Many Resources” exhibit.

This story was originally published May 2, 2015 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Sarah Lim: Sun-Star celebrates a special milestone."