The CLEVELAND NEWS began publication in 1905, but its lineage can be traced back to 1868, when the CLEVELAND LEADER began issuing its evening edition under the banner of the Evening News. When the CLEVELAND HERALD ceased publication in 1885, the Leader, which had acquired rights to the name, amended the evening edition's title to the News & Herald. Cleveland banker CHAS. A. OTIS created the "modern" News in 1905, to further his political campaign against Mayor TOM L. JOHNSON. Having bought the CLEVELAND WORLD in 1904, he then added the News & Herald and the Evening Plain Dealer to his acquisitions. Otis merged the 3 afternoon papers into a single daily, which premiered as the World-News on 12 June 1905 and became simply the Cleveland News on 13 Sept. In 1912 Otis sold the News to DANIEL R. HANNA, SR., who had acquired the Leader 2 years earlier and consolidated the News operation with that of the Leader in his newly erected Leader Bldg. at E. 6th St. and Superior. When the Leader was sold to the PLAIN DEALER in 1917, the News inherited the Sunday Leader, which became the Sunday News-Leader and later the Sunday News. After World War I, in an effort to catch up with the front-running CLEVELAND PRESS, Hanna imported ARTHUR B. "MICKEY" MCBRIDE from Chicago to serve as the News's circulation manager. In 1926 the News moved into its modern publishing plant at E. 18th St. and Superior.
Still failing to overtake the Press, the News was pushed to the edge of extinction during the Depression. In 1932 the heirs of Dan R. Hanna, Sr., transferred control of the paper to the FOREST CITY PUBLISHING CO., which also acquired the stock of the Plain Dealer. With 5 members on the board to 2 for the News, the Plain Dealer was the senior partner of the enterprise, a fact underscored by the subsequent suspension of the Sunday News on 3 Jan. 1933. As the junior partner, the daily News managed to survive for nearly 30 more years. It remained staunchly Republican in orientation, although it began to support some Democrats on the local level. Postwar News circulation peaked at 148,752 in 1952, but in 1959 its circulation stood at 130,368, against 320,271 for the Press. On 23 Jan. 1960, Forest City Publishing Co. announced the sale of the News to the Press, whereupon the Plain Dealer moved into the News plant.
Shaw, Archer H. The Plain Dealer: One Hundred Years in Cleveland (1942).