The roots of the Idaho Press-Tribune go back to December 1883 in Caldwell - with the first paper coming off the press just months after Caldwell was established as a city. Nampa city was established in 1885.

The newspapers and their competitors underwent several name changes in both towns. Ownership changed often, too.

The early versions of the papers were often informational instruments for political parties and movements.

And for you trivia buffs, Idaho Gov. Frank Steunenberg, who was murdered at his home, was one of the first editors and publishers of the Caldwell Tribune.

The Idaho Woman was edited by a man, Rees H. Davis, who bought the Caldwell Tribune from the Steunenbergs, but it was heavily supported by the three sisters who ran millinery and hairdressing shops on Main Street.

The activist women and publication are credited for playing a key role in Idaho's, the fourth state to do so, passage to allow women to vote in 1896.

On April 12, 1928, the Caldwell Tribune and Caldwell News merged and became the Caldwell News-Tribune.

In Nampa, the first newspaper, The Nampa Progress, was printed June 23, 1888. The Nampa Leader, was first published on April 3, 1891; The Nampa Times, August 1902; The Nampa Leader Herald, Dec. 23, 1904; and The Nampa Evening Leader, April 1, 1907.

Populists and Socialists played heavy roles in Nampa's newspaper development.

The Leader-Herald was a strong Republican paper, and that prompted the birth of the Idaho Free Press on April 9, 1919. That paper was more sympathetic to the Nonpartisan League, organized by farmers seeking political relief.

The Rev. W.W. Deal (Nampa Rep. W.W. “Bill� Deal’s grandfather) was secretary of the Cooperative Publishing Co. that launched the Idaho Free Press in 1919.

In 1922 the Nonpartisans organized the Idaho Progressive Party. The Nonpartisans, closely connected with the Idaho Grange, did not trust the local press and was not happy with the news about the farmers movement.

The Grand Old Party made a clean sweep of all county offices in 1928, riding the coattails of Herbert Hoover.

Bernard Mainwaring bought the Idaho Free Press and the Leader-Herald newspapers in about 1946 and merged them, leaving the Idaho Free Press as the only paper. He was publisher and owner.

The Scripps League bought the Idaho Free Press in 1954 and the Caldwell News Tribune in 1956.

Subsequent transactions eventually resulted in the ownership of the two Canyon County newspapers by Pioneer Newspapers in 1975. In February of 1980, the two papers were merged, becoming the Idaho Press-Tribune, and the first Sunday morning newspaper was delivered and the Saturday edition discontinued.

In mid-1990 the Emmett Messenger Index, a weekly Gem County newspaper, became part of the Idaho Press-Tribune family.

On April 1, 1995, the first Saturday morning newspaper was printed and readers were introduced to a four-section daily newspaper.

On Jan. 1, 1999, Idaho Press-Tribune President and Publisher Jim Barnes announced plans to deliver an AM newspaper seven days a week.

A multi-phase $6.7 million expansion project was completed in October 2005 at the Idaho Press-Tribune’s property on Midland Boulevard in Nampa. The project started in 2002 with the addition of a new press and inserting equipment after a 22,000-square-foot production facility was built.

In January 2005 the conversion of the old pressroom and distribution center started, creating state-of-the-art offices for the news, circulation and information technology departments.

The second part created new space for the advertising, marketing, business and administration departments.

Vickie Holbrook,

Managing Editor