Journal-World Being Sold After 125 Years of Family Ownership

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – A northeast Kansas daily newspaper that has been owned by the same family for nearly 125 years is being sold to a different family-owned operation based in West Virginia.

Lawrence Journal-World Editor Dolph C. Simons Jr. on Friday announced the pending sale to Ogden Newspapers Inc., which publishes 40 daily newspapers, several magazines, weekly newspapers and shoppers in 14 states

The Journal-World reports Ogden’s Kansas holdings include Topeka-based Cappers, Grit and Mother Earth News magazines.

The Simons family has owned the Lawrence newspaper since Wilford Collins Simons launched the Lawrence Journal in March 1892, acquired the Lawrence World in 1905 and merged the two in 1911.

The sale also includes weekly newspapers in Shawnee and Tonganoxie, more than a dozen websites and Sunflower Publishing, which produces niche publications.