East Oregonian

The East Oregonian was first published as a weekly in 1875 by M.P. Bull. Seven years later, C.S. "Sam" Jackson purchased the EO and by 1883 it had become a semiweekly. A building for the paper was constructed at the corner of South Main and Emigrant in 1887. In 1888, the paper became a daily except Sunday.

Edwin B. Aldrich became editor and a stockholder in 1908. In 1913, the stock was divided into four equal shares owned by C.S. Jackson, Aldrich, Fred Lampkin, and Lee Drake. In 1934, Fred Lampkin died, and his stock passed to Dorothy Engle of San Francisco.

Amy Aldrich Bedford started work at the EO in 1949 as the manager of the commercial printing plant. When it was sold she became the promotions/public relations manager.

Aldrich was editor until his death in 1951. Upon Aldrich's death, J.W. "Bud" Forrester became editor and his wife Eleanor, the business manager. Forrester, his wife Eleanor, and Amy Aldrich Bedford purchased the stock owned by Lee Drake. During the same year the East Oregonian opened its bureau office in Hermiston. Eleanor Forrester and Amy Bedford are the daughters of E.B. Aldrich.

In 1956, the paper relocated to a new building at 211 S.E. Byers Ave. and in 1960 the East Oregonian purchased a Goss Suburban press, becoming the first daily paper west of St. Louis to use an offset web press. In 1964, the cold type method of typesetting was installed. The following year Dorothy Engle died, with her stock passing to Amy Bedford and Eleanor Forrester.

Mike Forrester, son of Bud and Eleanor Forrester, became editor in 1973 when J.W. Forrester moved to become the editor of The Daily Astorian. In 1990, Mike became publisher of the Capital Press. The East Oregonian started having non family members as editors. The publisher position was created in 1997 and Mark Garber was tabbed the first. In the summer of 2001, Floyd Jernigan was named the second publisher.

Jacqueline Brown, daughter of Amy Bedford, came to work as the human resources manager of the Company in 1988. Her daughter, Kathryn Brown, serves on the company board of directors and writes a health column for the papers. Steve Forrester, brother of Mike Forrester, joined the company in 1987 as the editor of The Daily Astorian. He is now the publisher of that five-day a week paper.

In 1994 the presidency of the EO Pub. Co. passed from J.W. Forrester to Mike Forrester. The Sunday editon of the East Oregonian, started in 2000, circulating throughout northeast Oregon.

The East Oregonian Publishing Company also owns The Daily Astorian, The Hermiston Herald, the Blue Mountain Eagle, Chinook Observer, Capital Press and the Wallowa County Chieftain. It also has several Web products: Seaside-Sun.com, East Oregon Real Estate Guide, FarmSeller.com, Coast Weekend and RecreationProperties.com.