Evening Independent
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This article is about the former Florida newspaper. For the Ohio newspaper once known as The Evening Independent, see The Independent (Massillon).
 The front page of the final edition of The Evening Independent on November 7, 1986 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner | Thomson Corporation |
| Founded | November 1907 |
| Ceased publication | November 1986 |
| OCLC number | 2720408 |
The Evening Independent was St. Petersburg, Florida's first daily newspaper.[1] The sister evening newspaper of the St. Petersburg Times, it was launched as a weekly newspaper in March 1906 under the ownership of Willis B. Powell. In November 1907, it became a daily paper as the St. Petersburg Evening Independent.
The newspaper was known for its "Sunshine Offer", which was first enacted in 1910 by Lew Brown as a way to publicize St. Petersburg as "The Sunshine City". The paper offered copies free following days without sunshine in St. Petersburg. From 1910 until the paper folded in 1986, the Evening Independent made good on its offer 296 times.
The Evening Independent was acquired by the Times in 1962, when its previous owner, the Thomson newspaper chain, threatened to close it down.[2] Roy Thomson had originally bought the Independent so he would have a place to moor his yacht.[3]
The Evening Independent was merged into the Times in November 1986, initially as part of the Times's "City Times and Independent" section; the "Independent" name would soon be dropped.
Every issue of the Evening Independent, along with the Times, is available for viewing on Google News Archive.[4]
- ^ "St. Petersburg's first daily newspaper, The Evening Independent". Groundspeak. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
- ^ "Q&A: The history of the Evening Independent". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
- ^ "American Journalism Review". ajr.org. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
- ^ Shankland, Stephen (September 8, 2008). "Google raising newspaper morgues from the dead". CNET News. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2009.