Our history

The Capital Times was founded as an afternoon daily in 1917 by William T. Evjue, who began his career at the Wisconsin State Journal.

Evjue had been managing editor of the State Journal and later business manager. He was angered by the State Journal's editorials attacking Robert M."Fighting Bob" LaFollette, who he considered a hero. The State Journal had once supported LaFollette but as the nation neared entry into World War I the paper abandoned him.

Evjue decided there was only one thing to do - start his own paper, one that would hold true to LaFollette ideals. Evjue resigned and came out with the first issue of The Capital Times a little more than three months later - on December 13, 1917.

The Capital Times was intended to be a journalistic voice for the principles of good government, but it was not well accepted initially.

Rumor spread that the paper was a mouthpiece for LaFollette, and that LaFollette, a vigorous opponent of America's entry into World War 1, was pro-German. The rumors created suspicion and the fledgling paper was hit with an advertising boycott almost immediately. Big business - many of whom were advertisers - did not like Evjue's resolve that his paper would be a champion of the common people.

Evjue visited local communities selling $1 subscriptions to farmers and merchants and relating stories of harassment directed toward the paper. In just 18 months The Capital Times reached a circulation of 10,000 and the advertising boycott collapsed.

In 1927 the paper moved from its location on King Street to a new two-story building on East Washington Avenue. On Nov. 6, 1927, the first Sunday edition of the paper appeared. The Capital Times remained at the East Washington Avenue location until 1948, producing both a six-day afternoon newspaper and a Sunday morning edition.

Competition was fierce as both papers continued to publish afternoon dailies and "scoop" each other. But the battle for circulation and advertising took its toll. It was costly to maintain two separate plants, and neither paper could afford to replace aging equipment.

By 1947, The Capital Times and State Journal executives began discussing the possibility of forming a third corporation that would be owned 50-50 by both newspaper companies. The third corporation would own the equipment and the two papers would share its use, thus cutting costs and assuring that two newspapers would survive in a city the size of Madison.

The agreement wasn't made easily. Because there would be one press, one newspaper would have to abandon its traditional afternoon publication time and become a morning paper, then uncharted waters in most newspaper markets. After months of negotiations, The State Journal agreed to become the morning newspaper with the understanding that it would publish the Sunday paper.

Madison Newspapers, Inc., was officially born on November 15, 1948, The new corporation published its first morning and evening newspapers on Feb. 1, 1949. from a shared building at 115 S. Carroll St. In the fall of 1975, MNI and the two newspapers moved to the present facilities at 1901 Fish Hatchery Road.