On Saturday, Feb. 25, 1922, the East Ludington Street plant of The Iron Mountain News was totally destroyed by fire. Publication resumed on Wednesday, May 3, 1922, in Iron Mountain, when the name of the newspaper was changed from The Iron Mountain Daily News to The Iron Mountain News. During the interval, the newspaper had been published at The Mining Journal plant at Marquette.

According to the article in the May 3, 1922, edition of The Iron Mountain News, “when the debris of the fire had been cleared away, it was found that the big Duplex press was practically the only piece of equipment that could be salvaged, the remaining machinery having been hopelessly wrecked by the heat and the collapse of the building. Most of the records, and a few cases of type were saved.

“Before the ruins were fairly cold, wires had been sent to the offices of various machinery and equipment concerns requesting the immediate dispatch of men to Iron Mountain. Before the end of the next week, orders for a complete new plant had been placed.”

Initially “rebuilding on the old site was proposed, but it finally was decided to take advantage of the larger frontage available” between The Style Shop, owned and operated by John Obermeyer and his wife Maud Obermeyer at 213 E. Ludington St., and Iron Mountain Electric Light & Power Company, located at 217 E. Ludington St., across from the post office, then located in the Iron Mountain City Hall building.

Probably taken in the early to mid-1920s, this photograph shows a number of businesses on the east side of the 300 block of South Stephenson Avenue in Iron Mountain: 305, Michael Khoury, confectioner; 307, William Riley, newsstand; 311, Fugere Bros., men’s furnishings and shoes; 313, Fugere Bros., men’s furnishings and shoes. Workmen were hanging a new sign atop Riley’s newsstand. The store next to Fugere Bros. has the letters “MILL” visible above the awning and may have been the location of the Miller Agency, dealing in insurance. Note the men’s straw hats in the Fugere Bros.’ window. (Gene Derwinski/Dick Ferris)

“Accordingly, a tract 30 by 70 feet was purchased, and excavation of that part of the basement which would house the big press started at once by Anton Miench, contractor. When the concrete foundations for the 45-ton machine were completed, it was dismantled and moved to its new location, covered by a temporary structure.” The permanent building was erected around it.

“With the pressroom problem settled, establishment of the composing room remained a question. Temporary offices had been set up in the rear of the Commercial Bank, through the courtesy of that institution, but finding of quarters large enough to accommodate the typesetting machines, cabinets, imposing stones, stereotyping and other equipment promised to be more of a problem.”

Tentative arrangements were made for the use of the Sundstrom block on East Flesheim Street, but sale of the property prevented their consummation. At this time, Payant Bros. moved into their new building at Merritt Avenue and A Street, and The News secured the old quarters in the Flanagan building on East A Street.

“Most of the mechanical force had been dispatched to Marquette to aid in getting out the paper there, the news and business staff continuing to function here. With the assistance of the employees who remained, together with some help from outside, the equipment was moved into the temporary building and set up. Raymond Golk, of the Mergenthaler Linotype Co., came here to erect the three new typesetting machines and J.G. Dannenfeld, of the Duplex Printing Press Co., Battle Creek, Mich., had charge of moving the big press, which he had set up in its original location to the site of the new building.”

The Iron Mountain News announced in its Friday, Jan. 9, 1925 edition, that its publishers had authorized F.E. Parmelee to prepare plans for a 50-foot addition at the rear of their building.

Albert P. Miller, front, was a linotype machine operator at The Iron Mountain News, shown here in about 1922. The two men in the background are unidentified. The linotype machine, invented in 1884, used a keyboard to assemble the casting matrices, and cast an entire line of type at a time — hence its name. The Iron Mountain News began operations using “hot type” letterpress printing presses and manual typewriters. The operators typed the copy written by the reporters and “slugs” of type – literally a line of type – were automatically cast and dropped into columns. The lead was melted and reused with each edition of the newspaper. The Iron Mountain News switched to “cold type” or an offset printing press on March 9, 1975. The Iron Mountain printing presses were dismantled when the Powers Printing Company facility began operations in July 1977. (Photo courtesy of the Menominee Range Historical Museum)

According to the article, “The addition would conform in type of construction to the present structure, with steel carrying beams for the first and second floors, steel joists and reinforced concrete floors, making the structure one of semi-fireproof type.” There would be only a minimal amount of wood in the building. A full concrete basement was to be built, and the total floor space would measure over 6,000 square feet, all of which the publishers ultimately planned to use for their purposes.

The plans called for quarters for the office force that would take in the present editorial room and the provision of much more spacious editorial rooms than those then in use in the part of the building then occupied by the linotypes and makeup tables.

The new arrangement would relieve the badly overcrowded editorial and office quarters in use at that time and provide for the necessary increases of force in both departments.

The plans also included foundations for the 16-page tubular press which was to be built that year by the Battle Creek Printing Press Company for The Iron Mountain News to be ready for delivery Aug. 1, and for the stereotyping plant that would be installed in connection therewith.

In its Saturday, Feb. 28, 1925, edition, The Iron Mountain News proudly announced that beginning Monday, March 2, 1925, the newspaper would be daily receiving the full leased wire report of the Associated Press, which would bring with it “full and complete reports of all important news events outside of Iron Mountain and market reports, including the New York closing quotations.”

Mose Antonini, left, Forest Extrand at center and Matthew H. Doney at right were compositors, working in the composing room laying out pages of The Iron Mountain News in the early 1920s in preparation for printing. Doney appears to be putting type and illustration cuts in forms to compose a page, perhaps advertisements. (Photo courtesy of the Menominee Range Historical Museum)

The operator would take this report from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. every day, receiving it on a telegraph set installed in editorial rooms.

The Iron Mountain News began operations using “hot type” letterpress printing presses and manual typewriters. Letterpress print presses used melted lead to set the type. The county’s only daily newspaper switched to “cold type,” or an offset printing press, on March 9, 1975.

In 1977, The Daily News and the Daily Press of Escanaba constructed a multi-million-dollar printing facility at Powers, where both newspapers were printed. The Iron Mountain printing presses were dismantled when the Powers Printing Company facility began operations in July 1977.

As it began serving a greater regional area, the name was changed from The Iron Mountain News to The Daily News in 1978.

As part of Panax Corp., The Daily News published a Sunday newspaper – the U.P. Sunday Times. It first appeared on the newsstands on March 1, 1978. It ceased publication on July 27, 1980.

Iron Mountain native Mia Tavonatti and other local artists finished the second mural in the Power of Words Project on the west facade of The Daily News building in downtown Iron Mountain in the summer of 2017. (Theresa Proudfit/Daily News, file)

The news and classified advertising departments of The Daily News began using video display terminals (VDTs) in March 1983. The 1980s ushered in a new chapter for the paper with its acquisition by Chicago-based Thomson Newspapers. After a computer upgrade, full computer pagination was implemented in the spring of 1991.

The Daily News was purchased by Ogden News Publishing of Michigan in the late 1990s and is currently owned and operated by that company under the name Ogden Newspapers Inc. of Michigan. In the Upper Peninsula, Ogden also owns the Daily Press in Escanaba, The Mining Journal in Marquette and The Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton. In the northern Lower Peninsula, it owns The Alpena News as well.