The first of its predecessors was the Weekly Dakotian, published by two young printer-journalists -- Francis M. (Frank) Ziebach and William Freney. They had brought their Washington handpress and other printing necessities from Sioux City in two wagons -- one drawn by a span of horses, the other by a yoke of oxen.

They laid their cases in a log structure on Broadway and produced the first edition of the Dakotian with a dateline of June 6, 1861, although it actually came out two days later. As the forerunner of the state's oldest continuing newspaper, it quickly became involved in the political wars of Dakota Territory, its rival being the Dakota Republican in Vermillion.

On June 21, 1864, a second Yankton newspaper -- the Dakota Union -- was issued by two other Yankton pioneers, George W. Kingsbury and Moses K. Armstrong. Kingsbury had left the Dakotian after a feud with Dr. Walter A. Burleigh, the opportunistic lawyer-physician who then had an interest in the paper and was using it to promote his candidacy for delegate to congress.

Then, in late 1864 -- proving again that all is apparently fair in love, war and politics -- the two warring papers (both Democratic) merged to become the Union and Dakotaian, with Kingsbury as publisher. (Note the extra "ai" in Dakotaian.)

The peripatetic Kingsbury next showed up as a principal of another paper, the Yankton Press, which made its initial appearance on Aug. 10, 1870, from a plant located on the east side of Capitol Street where the Gurney complex is now located. For it, Kingsbury and his partner -- James M. Stone -- imported the first steam-powered press in Dakota.

By this time, strangely enough, both the Press and the Union and Dakotaian were Republican papers doing battle with the Democratic Yankton Herald. In the fall of 1873 the divided old-guard and liberal Republicans decided to close ranks, which meant that two party views were no longer appropriate. Consequently, on Nov. 30 that year still another merger took place and the first issue of the Weekly Press and Dakotaian emerged. Owners then were Kingsbury; E.M. Brown, representing the Union and Dakotaian; and S.V. Clevenger, an electrician who was instrumental in bringing the first telegraph line to Yankton. (For a time, the word "Union" appeared in small type in the name-plate, but eventually it was dropped.)

Within a year the ownership changed again. Brown sold out to Gen. William P. Dewey, the surveyor general; Clevenger disposed of his interests to A. W. Barber; and Kingsbury went off to Colorado to seek his fortune in the San Juan silver; mining region.

Then, in late November of 1874, still another individual entered the picture. He was Wheeler S. Bowen, printer-son of Janesville, Wis., publisher and personal friend of George H. Hand, the territorial secretary.

Bowen saw an opportunity in the Press and Dakotaian, then in hands of two men with little printing experience. He soon was able to buy out Dewey and Barber under the name of W.S. Bowen & Company. Kingsbury, meanwhile, failed to strike it rich in Colorado and returned to join the new owner.

While this was going on, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer had led an expedition of his Seventh Cavalry into the Black Hills and in the process confirmed the existence of gold in the region. The wave of excitement this created was especially felt in Yankton, then a potential supply point for argonauts heading for the new bonanza.

To furnish gold-seekers with news, Bowen and Kingsbury began to issue a daily sheet they called the Yankton Black Hiller. The paper was so successful that the two men began to consider a new plan for their regular publication, and on the morning of April 26, 1875, they published the first edition of the Yankton Daily Press and Dakotaian.

With hand-set type and dot-and-dash telegraphic service which cost $150 a month, the publishers were faced with a tedious and expensive operation. The transmission of the daily telegraphic report was extremely unreliable, and the Yankton publishers concluded that it was due to a conspiracy in the Sioux City office.

To complicate matters further, the printing plant was moved to a second-story room over John J. Duffack's Boot and Shoe Store at 306 W. Third Street. Hauling newsprint, supplies and completed papers up and down a flight of narrow steps was neither efficient nor practical. Finally in 1880 the plant was relocated in the new James A. Danforth building next to the Brecht & Purdy Drug Store on Third Street.

When Yankton's steamboat fleet was destroyed in the great flood of '81 and the territorial capital was lost two years later, the town became known as the Fountain City as gushing artesian wells promised a new water-powered future. To take advantage of this opportunity, Bowen and Kingsbury again moved their plant, this time to a new brick building diagonally across from the Pierce Hotel at Third and Capitol. An artesian well there offered less expensive power for their press, an advantage which was to peter out when the water table eventually dropped.

In 1889 -- the statehood year -- the superfluous "ai" was eliminated from the paper's title and it became the Press and Dakotan. While other papers came and went, the P&D and the Dakota Herald continued as major competitors until August of 1896 when the Daily Yankton Gazette appeared on the scene to support the candidacy of William McKinley and other Republicans. It was edited by Doane Robinson, later to become the state historian.

The confusion in the Press and Dakotan's family tree continued. Bowen became the personal secretary of U.S. Senator Richard F. Pettigrew and withdrew from the paper. In 1898 Willard C. Lusk came to town and bought the Gazette. In 1902 David E. Lloyd acquired the P&D as George Kingsbury began to devote his time to writing territorial state histories. Several months later Lloyd sold his two papers as the Press and Dakotan-Gazette. It was to remain under that title until 1907 when the Gazette was dropped form the nameplate.

A year earlier Lusk had joined with John Holman, Herman Ellerman and Gustav Kositzky to form the Yankton Printing Company, a combination which included the Press and Dakotan-Gazette and the Dakota Freie Presse. Turner Hall, the former German Turn-Verein building, then became the office and plant for the two papers, and eventually just the P&D when the Freie Presse moved to Aberdeen.

After that, Lusk published the paper for 37 years until his death in 1940. He had also purchased -- and closed -- the Daily Herald which had survived until 1918. Lusk's son, Bob, succeeded his father until 1944 when editor Fred Monfroe became owner and publisher.

The Press and Dakotan remained in the Monfroe family until January of 1979 when it was sold to Stauffer Communications, Inc., of Topeka, Kan.

In 1995, the Stauffer group was purchased by the Morris Communications Corporation of Augusta, Ga.

In 1997, the Press & Dakotan entered a new age in communication by going online.