Our History

Since being established in 1872 as the Cook County Herald, we have been leading the way in publishing, print production, and media solution. We are proud of our long history of commitment to the Chicago suburbs, and invite you to explore our history of innovation and growth in the media and publishing industries.

1872 – 1935 | 1936 – 1968 | 1969 – 1990 | 1991 – 2001 | 2002 – 2010

1872 – G.E. Earlie establishes the Cook County Herald in Palatine, Illinois. The Palatine Herald was established as an edition of the Cook County Herald

1875 – Earlie sold Cook County Herald to John Holden and W. C. Williams: Williams sold his half to Holden, started the “Advertiser” and bought the Palatine Herald from Holden

1898 – H.C. Paddock buys the Palatine Enterprise from Williams

1899 – H.C. Paddock expands holdings by taking possession with detail of chattel mortgage listed in book of Palatine Justices of the Peace, the Day Journal

1900 – H.C. Paddock established Dupage County Register

1922 – H.C. Paddock sells the business to his sons, Stuart and Charlie Paddock, changing the firm name to H.C. Paddock Sons

1926 – H.C. Paddock Sons initiates the Arlington Heights edition of the Cook County Herald, which it renames Arlington Heights Herald

Eight-page duplex printing press acquired

1927 – Arlington Heights Herald begins printing Mount Prospect edition

1928 – H.C. Paddock Sons establish the Roselle Register

1935 – H.C. Paddock dies in Arlington Heights

1939 – H.C. Paddock Sons moves into 217 W. Campbell in Arlington Heights

1948 – Paddock incorporates, becoming Paddock Publications, Inc.

1949 – Paddock Publications launches Wheeling Herald

1950 – Paddock Publications launches Bensenville Register

1951 – Paddock Publications acquires a new printing press

1955 – Paddock Publications launches Rolling Meadows and Prospect Heights editions

1956 – First edition printed on 32-page Goss Universal press

1957 – Paddock Publications launches Addison Register and Elk Grove edition

1958 – Elk Grove and Rolling Meadows editions of the Arlington Heights Herald renames into Elk Grove Herald and Rolling Meadows Herald respectively

1959 – Paddock Publications launches Hoffman Estates Herald

1960 – Paddock Publications launches Itasca Register

1962 – Sunday Suburbanite Shopper develops from the former Shopper for Mount Prospect merchants

Prospect Heights edition of the Mount Prospect Herald expands into Prospect Heights Herald

1963 – 32-page Goss Press expanded to 48 pages

1964 – Paddock Publications launches Hanover Park-Streamwood Herald

1965 – Paddock Publications launches Schaumburg Herald

1967 – Paddock Publications initiates tri-weekly publication of all newspapers and discontinues Sunday Suburbanite

Charles S. Paddock dies in Arlington Heights

1968 – Stuart R. Paddock Sr. dies in Dunedin, Florida

Stuart R. Paddock Jr. becomes president and publisher of Paddock Publications

1969 – Paddock Publications initiates daily publication of Arlington Heights Herald, Mount Prospect Herald, Rolling Meadows Herald, Palatine Herald.

Also, initiated publication of Buffalo Grove Herald as a tri-weekly

Paddock Publications initiates daily publication of Buffalo Grove Herald, Des Plaines Herald, Elk Grove Herald, Hoffman Estates-Schaumburg-Hanover Park Herald (adopting detail of Hoffman Herald), Prospect Heights Herald, Wheeling Herald; eliminating Schaumburg Herald and Hanover-Streamwood Herald

1970 – Paddock Publications purchases Day Publications and suburban newspaper operations of Field Enterprises, including Circle Enterprises and the Lake County Shopper

DuPage County Register is renamed to Wood Dale Register

Paddock Publications initiated Lake County Circle Herald, Libertyville, City Edition, Lake Edition, Mundelein, North Shore as a weekly newspaper in Lake County

Incorporation of Paddock Circle Newspapers, Inc.

1971 – Printing of Register newspapers moves from Arlington Heights to Downers Grove

Each of the five Registers changes to Herald Register and from tri-weekly to weekly

Five weekly newspapers in Lake County is replaced with The Herald serving Waukegan, Zion, North Chicago, Gurnee, and Park City

Adopts “A Paddock Publication” as part of the nameplate

The Barrington, Lake Zurich, and Wauconda Heralds added as weeklies

Drops name of Hanover Park from nameplate of Hoffman Estates-Schaumburg Herald

Eliminates Prospect Heights Herald and divides the circulation between Mount Prospect Herald and Wheeling Herald according to the high school attendance boundaries

1972 – Paddock Crescent Newspapers and the Herald Registers sells to a new group called Crescent Newspapers

1973 – Paddock Publications initiates use of 201 W. Campbell St. building for newspaper processing

1975 – Paddock Publications launches Saturday edition for all the dailies

1977 – Paddock Publications renames each of the nine Heralds to Daily Herald

Palatine Herald is renamed to Palatine-Inverness Daily Herald

Hanover Park-Streamwood-Bartlett Daily Herald is reinstated

Last issue of Herald of Waukegan is published

Paddock Publications initiates Vernon Hills Herald

Paddock Publications adopts Herald Country slogan and agrees upon using “Paddock Publications” for both groups of newspapers

1978 – Paddock Publications initiates final edition of Arlington Heights Daily Herald distribution at newsstands in Chicago Loop, O’Hare Field, and selected locations in DuPage and Lake Counties

Final edition offered at local newsstands in place of individualized editions

Paddock Publications initiates Sunday Herald editions/p>

1979 – Weekend papers add the Sunday Suburbanite

1980 – The Sunday Herald has first issue of larger tabloid size comics

Creamery Package site building is demolished to make way for a future printing building

1981 – Paddock Publications installs the Third Goss Universal 48-page press

Paddock Publications initiates the Herald Neighbor tabloid section for Arlington Heights, Hanover Park-Streamwood-Bartlett, Palatine, Wheeling, Buffalo Grove, Hoffman Estates-Schaumburg, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights, Rolling Meadows, Elk Grove Village, and Des Plaines Heralds

1982 – Paddock Publications initiates Wednesday Suburbanite, publication of This Week, and initiates use of all three presses simultaneously

1983 – 799 office opens in Glen Ellyn

Paddock Publications initiates Neighbor pages for each of the weekly Herald editions

Paddock Publications initiates distribution of This Week medium in to Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Lombard, and Villa Park

1984 – Barrington Herald converts to a daily frequency

Lake County weekly Heralds converts to a daily frequency, becoming Libertyville/Mundelein/Vernon Hills Daily Herald and Lake Zurich/Wauconda Daily Herald

The Paddock Publications Board authorizes the purchase of two 48-page Koenig and Bauer Commander offset presses

1985 – Accounting, Circulation, and Human Resources departments are computerized

The DuPage County office opens in Roselle

Daily Herald launches for Roselle, Bloomingdale, and Medinah

1986 – Formation of the Editorial Graphics department

Typographic specialist initiates analysis of Daily Herald with the possibility of modernizing type faces

Glen Ellyn office closes

Completes the computerization of Circulation department

Stuart R. Paddock Printing Center has an open house

Printing Center has first complete printing of Daily Herald on the new presses

1988 – New office opens in Barrington, closes the old office

DuPage Bureau office moves to Carol Stream

DuPage office in Roselle closes

Paddock Publications initiates Daily Herald for Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Carol Stream/Glendale Heights

Winfield is added to Wheaton Edition

Paddock Publications adds Itasca to Roselle/Bloomingdale/Medinah edition

1989 – Paddock Publications initiates Naperville/Lisle Daily Herald

Breaks ground for an addition to the Printing Center of approximately 20,000 square feet

Paddock Publications initiates the Lisle edition

1990 – Paddock Publications initiates Lombard, Villa Park/Oak Brook/Oak Brook Terrace, and Carpentersville/East Dundee/West Dundee/Gilberts/Sleepy Hollow Daily Heralds

Paddock Publications initiates use of third press at the Printing Center

Classified Advertising department becomes its own stand-alone section with full color on the cover

1992 – Individual Neighbor sections are added for editions in Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Carol Stream, Glendale Heights, and Winfield

1993 – Paddock Publications expands into Fox River Grove

Paddock Publications signs contract to computerize page production with DewarView pagination system

1995 – Entertainment/Activity section ads Time Out! section

Opens an office in Elgin

Purchases new office center located at 155 E. Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights

1996 – Editorial Department moves to new building at 155 E. Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights

Establishes a website for Classified Advertising

Daily Herald sports section is named among the Associated Press’ Top Ten daily sports section in the nation for the year 1995

Reporters and editors win Lisagor awards for their work on the Fox River Grove bus/train crash, which killed seven high school students in October 1995

The Herald has its 125th birthday

Paddock Publications initiates Gurnee edition

Paddock Publications launches coverage of Grayslake, Third Lake, Hainesville, Grandwood Park, Wildwood, and Gages Lake

1998 – Homestyles is restyled as the New Homes section in Saturday editions

Started Homes Plus section in Sunday editions

Robert Paddock, Jr. is elected to Board of Directors

Dan Baumann is named CEO of Daily Herald

Daily Herald receives first place Peter Lisagor Award in deadline news writing for “Aftermath of drunken driving crash” – coverage of 1997’s tragedy in which a crash involving a drunk driver left three Waubonsie Valley High School students dead

Daily Herald receives first place Peter Lisagor Award in general photojournalism for “Hope for the city,” a series of photos of the suburban family that moved to Chicago to evangelize in an inner city neighborhood

Paddock Publications launches Gurnee Neighbor section

Daily Herald opens office in St. Charles

Daily Herald launches edition in Hampshire

Paddock Publications purchases 21.59 acres in Schaumburg as partial site for a second printing facility and later purchases 5 additional acres

Daily Herald expands to Wayne and Elburn

Stu Paddock named Publisher Emeritus, Dan Baumann named Publisher, and Doug Ray named General Manager

1999 – Daily Herald launches Health & Fitness section

Robert Y. Paddock, Sr. dies at age 82 in Inverness, IL

Circulation begins in Rosemont

Daily Herald begins publishing SunBurst, a weekly section designed specifically for Sun City Huntley

Douglas K. Ray named President and Chief Operating Officer, Robert Y. Paddock, Jr. named Executive Vice President/Administration, Kent L. Johnson named Vice President/Treasurer, John A. Lampinen named Vice President/Executive Editor, and Marcella M. Paddock named a director

2000 – Daily Herald begins circulation in Bensenville

Sunday Business section adds Wall Street Journal Sunday section

Paddock Publications forms partnership to create DriveChicago.com

Paddock Publications purchases Reflejos Publications, Inc., a monthly bilingual newspaper serving Latino readers in Fox Valley and advertisers from Aurora to McHenry

Colin O’Donnell is named Managing Editor

Daily Herald begins circulation in Fox Lake, Round Lake, Round Lake Park, Round Lake Beach, Round Lake Heights, Volo, Long Lake, Fox Lake Hills

Board of Directors gives final approval plans for Schaumburg Printing Center, a 165,000 square-foot facility on 26 acres fronting the Elgin-O’Hare expressway

2001 – Daily Herald founds ChicagoJobNetwork.com, a career-focused website–Daily Herald is the sole owner

Paddock Publications launches a redesigned Daily Herald

Publication of Reflejos increases to bimonthly from monthly

Daily Herald announces its partnership with MSNBC.com, the top-ranked Internet news site, with Daily Herald links to local, national and international news, business, entertainment, sports and prep sports sections as well as classified ads

Ground is broken for new 160,000 square-foot Daily Herald Printing Center in Schaumburg, to be completed in early 2003

Douglas K. Ray is named a director and Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2002

Daniel E. Baumann named Deputy Chairman of the Board

Robert Y. Paddock Jr. named Vice Chairman of the Board

2002 – Scott Stone and Colin O’Donnell were appointed to Board of Managers positions at DriveChicago and Reflejos

Stuart R. Paddock, Jr. named Chairman Emeritus and Publisher Emeritus

Daniel E. Baumann named Chairman of the Board and Publisher

Daniel E. Baumann retires from full-time employment

Daily Herald begins coverage of Lake Villa and Lindenhurst

Stuart R. Paddock, Jr. dies at the age of 86 in Arlington Heights

Reflejos goes to weekly publications

Printing operation begin at Paddock Printer Center in Schaumburg, beginning with Classified

2003 – John Lampinen is named Senior Vice President and Editor

Colin O’Donnell is named Vice President of Operations and Planning

Scott Stone is named Assistant Vice President and Director of Matrix Operations

Daily Herald home delivery begins in Lincolnshire and North Aurora

Fast Tract Marketplace is launched, a free newsstand publication replacing Daily Herald Values, which had been mailed to non-subscribers — it includes both classified and display ads

2004 – The Daily Herald was judged one of the Top 10 Daily Sports Section for 2003 at The Associated Press Sports Editors contest

Daily Herald home delivery begins in Sugar Grove, Lakemoor, Lilymoor, and Antioch

2005 – The Daily Herald launches a new employment section called Chicago Suburban Jobs

The Daily Herald launches a new auto section called Auto Sunday

Redesigned website, www.dailyherald.com, debuts

The Board of Directors named John Kelly and Betsy Kmiecik as vice presidents

Stu Paddock III and Stefanie Anderson named as assistant vice presidents

The Daily Herald launches beep.dailyherald.com, a joint effort of Northwestern University and Paddock Publications

The Daily Herald launches its first Giving Garden program to help stock food banks and soup kitchens in the suburbs

2006 – The Board of Directors elected Stefanie Anderson to the position of Vice President of Production and Scott Stone as Vice President of Matrix Operations and New Business Development

Beep print edition launches, the print edition is a free, 30,000-distributed tabloid

The first dailyherald.com video is posted

The first interactive graphic is posted on dailyherald.com

DailyHerald.com launches a more interactive Business section with a market ticker

2007 – The Daily Herald launches Yahoo! HotJobs on dailyherald.com

The Board of Directors names Eileen Brown as Assistant Vice President

2008 – Daily Herald newspaper merges Beep and Time Out! sections

Reader commenting was implemented on dailyherald.com

Doug Ray announced the appointment of three new assistant vice presidents and a new secretary of the corporation: Kelly Casalino, Director of Interactive Media; Madeleine Doubek, Managing Editor; and Suzanne Pepper, Director of Display Advertising. Karen DiGiulio was named Assistant Corporate Secretary

Blogs are launched on dailyherald.com

The new section, Celebrate! section debuts – an online component debuts soon after that allows brides to put up their own wedding home page, photo galleries, etc.

Another new section, Your Time, debuts – a combination of the TV magazine, travel, and entertainment sections

Paddock Publications, Inc. debuts Biz2Biz, a free e-newsletter for the business-to-business industry

2009 – Doug Ray is named publisher of the Daily Herald in addition to his duties as Chief Executive Officer

The new Reflejos entertainment section, Mango, debuts and prints on the third Sunday of each month

Plans are announced for a Daily Herald smartphone/mobile website

2010 – Shaw Suburban Media, a division of Shaw Newspapers, and Paddock Publications announces that they have entered into a printing agreement; begins printing the Northwest Herald

The Daily Herald begins printing all Shaw products

Doug Ray is appointed to the position of Chairman of the Board; Dan Baumann becomes Chairman Emeritus

Ann Paddock, former director and wife of the late Stuart R. Paddock Jr., dies

2015 – Scott Stone was elected President and Chief Operating Officer.

August 2016 – Purchased: Marion Republican, Harrisburg Daily Register, Du Quoin Call, Benton News, Randolph County Herald Tribune and Gallatin Democrat.

December 2016 – Purchased: Virden Recorder, Girard Gazette, Panhandle Press and Northwestern News.

April 2017  – Purchased: Carbondale Times and Thomas Publishing (printing biz).

2018 – The Paddock Board of Directors voted to convert the company to 100% employee ownership. Under the ESOP, all shares of company stock are privately held and owned by employees.

January 2018 – Purchased: Pana News-Palladium, Golden Prairie News and Free-Press Progress.

April 2018 – Paddock, Stone named to Daily Herald’s Board of Directors

September 2018 – Purchased: Blue Mound Leader.

October 2018 – Purchased: Marion Smart Shopper.

September 2019 – Purchased: Ramsey News Journal and Launched Murphysboro Times.

February 2020 – Purchased: Moultrie County News-Progress and Fish Wrap.

July 2020 – Purchased: Shelbyville Eagle.