150 years of the Northfield News: A community's history in print
The Northfield News wasn't always the Northfield News . In fact, it wasn't even from Northfield. Originally called the Dundas News , the publication moved to Northfield three years later, beginning a 150-year history of mergers, changing ownership, technological advancements and the occasional brush with national history. Along the way, the newspaper documented everything from the end of the Spanish-American War to the everyday happenings of a growing Minnesota town. From Dundas to Northfield Henry E. Lawrence established the Dundas News , which was first published Nov. 4, 1876, just two months after the James-Younger Gang’s historic bank raid. Lawrence published the newspaper in Dundas for approximately three years before moving his printing operation to Northfield in 1879, where the publication became known as the Northfield News . It was hardly the only newspaper in the area. The Rice County Journal , founded in 1872 by Charles Augustus Wheaton, was among several competing publications serving Northfield during the late 19th century. Others included the Northfield Independent , the Northfield Ledger and the Dundas Enterprise . In 1884, the Dundas News and Rice County Journal consolidated to form the Northfield News. The newspaper's early history was marked by changing ownership, competing
