{{short description|Newspaper in Appleton, Wisconsin}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = The Post-Crescent | image = 225px|border | type = Daily newspaper | format = Broadsheet | founded = 1853<br>(as ''The Appleton Crescent'') | ceased_publication = | price = | owners = USA Today Co. | publisher = Andy Fisher | editor = Taima Kern | language = | circulation = 14,574 | circulation_date = 2022 | circulation_ref = <ref>{{Cite book |title=2023 Wisconsin Newspaper Directory |publisher=Wisconsin Newspaper Association |year=2023}}</ref> | headquarters = 306 W. Washington St.<br>Appleton, WI 54911<br>{{USA}} | ISSN = | website = {{URL|http://postcrescent.com/}} }}
'''''The Post-Crescent''''' is a daily newspaper based in Appleton, Wisconsin. Part of the USA Today Co. chain of newspapers, it is primarily distributed in counties surrounding the Appleton/Fox Cities area.
==History== '''''The Appleton Crescent''''' was formed in 1853 as a weekly newspaper, the same year that Appleton became a village.<ref name=history>[http://edit.wisinfo.gannettonline.com/contact/xhistory.shtml Myrna Collins "The Post-Crescent History" February 10 2003], Retrieved January 1, 2007</ref> The ''Crescent'' was a determinedly Democratic newspaper, created by Samuel, James and John Ryan.<ref name=history /> Edna Ferber, later a famed writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, became a reporter at the Appleton Crescent at the age of 17 and worked there for about 18 months, approximately 1902–1903.
The ''Crescent'''s Jacksonian Democratic politics upset Republicans, and a second newspaper, '''''The Appleton Motor''''', was formed by F.C. Meade on August 18, 1859. Meade was soon joined by Ryan's brother Francis.<ref name=history />
While the two newspapers were bitter rivals, they did cooperate at times. When the ''Crescent'' suffered serious damage in 1863 from apparent arson, the ''Motor'' ran an article condemning the act. The ''Motor'' changed its name to '''''The Appleton Post''''' in 1887 after changing hands several times. The ''Post'''s buildings were damaged that year, and donations from the ''Crescent'' kept the paper open.
'''''The Appleton Post-Crescent''''' was formed when the ''Post'' and the ''Crescent'' merged on February 2, 1920. The first paper was published on February 10, 1920. Editors decided to not align with either political party.<ref name=history />
''The Appleton Post-Crescent'' decided to purchase the '''''Twin City News-Record''''', which had been formed when the ''Menasha Record'' and the ''Neenah News Times'' merged in 1949. The "Appleton" portion of the name was removed in 1964 to reflect that the newspaper reached farther than the city limits.<ref name=history />
Publisher V.I. Minahan coined the term "the Fox Cities" in 1953, which is now a common term to describe the metropolitan Appleton area.<ref name=history />
==Ownership== Post Publishing owned the newspaper from 1920 until it was purchased by Gillett Communications on August 1, 1984, and was also a former owner of WLUK (Channel 11) in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Marquette, Michigan's WLUC (Channel 6), WEAU (Channel 13) in Eau Claire, and Rochester, New York's WOKR (Channel 13). Gillett sold the newspaper four months later to Thomson Newspapers, while the television stations were sold to various parties. Thomson owned the paper until it was sold to Gannett on July 21, 2000.<ref name=history />
In January 2018, Gannett announced plans to move the ''Post-Crescent''{{'}}s printing operation from Appleton to Gannett's facility in Milwaukee<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.postcrescent.com/story/money/2018/01/17/gannett-move-printing-appleton-facility/1039467001/ |title=Gannett to move printing from Appleton facility |work=The Post Crescent |date=2018-01-17 |access-date=2018-01-18 }}</ref>, a facility closed itself in May 2022, when Gannett shifted the printing operations of its "''USA Today'' Wisconsin" papers to the ''Journal Star'' in Peoria, Illinois, with press time moving to the early evening to accommodate the changes; physical Saturday editions of the paper had also ended at the beginning of 2022.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2022/gannetts-wisconsin-newspapers-will-move-printing-to-central-illinois/|title=Gannett’s Wisconsin newspapers will move printing to Central Illinois|last=Edmonds|first=Rick|date=March 16, 2022|work=Poynter Institute|access-date=21 February 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Northeast Wisconsin newspapers to end Saturday print delivery|url=https://fox11online.com/news/local/northeast-wisconsin-newspapers-to-end-saturday-print-delivery|website=WLUK-TV|date=2022-01-12|access-date=2025-12-02|language=en|first=Scott|last=Hurley}}</ref>
==Circulation== The circulation at the 1920 merger was 7,000. It grew to 40,000 by 1960 (when Appleton's population was 48,000).<ref name=history /> The circulation in 2003 was 53,600 on weekdays, more than 61,000 on Saturdays and nearly 70,000 on Sundays.<ref name=history />
==Notable journalists== *Mary Agria *Edna Ferber (''Appleton Daily Crescent'')
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Journalism}} *[http://www.postcrescent.com/ Official website] *[http://m.postcrescent.com Official mobile website]
{{Gannett}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Post-Crescent}} Category:Newspapers published in Wisconsin Category:Appleton, Wisconsin Category:USA Today Co. publications Category:Newspapers established in 1853 Category:1853 establishments in Wisconsin