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Aug 09, 2023

The Detroit News at 150: A timeline

Detroit News Assistant Multimedia Editor and drone pilot Andy Morrison operates a Detroit News drone in downtown Detroit on Tuesday, August 22, 2023. Along with David Guralnick, Andy is one of two

Detroit News Assistant Multimedia Editor and drone pilot Andy Morrison operates a Detroit News drone in downtown Detroit on Tuesday, August 22, 2023. Along with David Guralnick, Andy is one of two licensed drone pilot/photographers at The Detroit News. John T. Greilick, The Detroit News

Detroit News Assistant Multimedia Editor and drone pilot Andy Morrison operates a Detroit News drone in downtown Detroit on Tuesday, August 22, 2023. Along with David Guralnick, Andy is one of two licensed drone pilot/photographers at The Detroit News. John T. Greilick, The Detroit News

Significant moments in The Detroit News' 150-year history

1870-79

1873: James Scripps debuts The Evening News

1880-89

1884: First Sunday edition

1889: Scripps donates art collection to DIA

1890-99

1891: Scripps buys Detroit Tribune

1897: Detroit Newsboy Band forms

1900-09

1902: Scripps wins state Senate seat

1904: Booth family buys Cranbrook

1905: Name changed to The Detroit News

1906: James Scripps dies

1910-19

1912: First aerial photographs

1912: First newspapers delivered by airplane

1915: Groundbreaking for Lafayette Boulevard headquarters

1920: WWJ, first commercial radio station, goes on air

1926: Reporter Palmer Hutchinson killed by airplane propeller in Arctic

1929: The News buys autogiro, a type of aircraft with rotating vanes and a propeller

1930-39

1931: Miniature train donated to Detroit Zoo

1933: Readers buy elephant for Belle Isle Zoo

1933: Spelling Bee debuts

1934: Readers fund Belle Isle Carillon

1935: First Soap Box Derby

1940-49

1942: 160 News staffers join military

1942: Milton Brooks wins first photo Pulitzer Prize for "The Picket Line"

1950-59

1955: Readers pay to move Mariner's Church

1960-69

1960: Detroit Times purchased, closed

1963: Peter B. Clark, named publisher, last Scripps descendant to serve in that role

1968: Employees go on strike

1969: News reporter Jean Pearson joins all-woman Antarctica expedition.

1970-79

1973: The News calls for Nixon to resign

1975: Sterling Heights printing plant opens

1976: Morning circulation begins

1980-89

1982: Detroit News wins second Pulitzer

1985: Gannett buys out Scripps family

1989: Joint Operating Agreement with Free Press implemented

1990-99

1993: The News wins third Pulitzer

1995: Reporters go on strike

1995: The News goes online

2000-09

2005: MediaNews Group buys The News

2008: New home delivery model debuts

2010-19

2014: News offices move to Federal Reserve Building

2020-present

2020: Premium content subscription offered

2022: Jerry Green's Super Bowl coverage streak ends at 56

2023: The News marks 150th anniversary