NUGGET #53
THE RIDGEFIELD PRESS: Founded 1875 as Baxter’s Monthly, soon became The Ridgefield Press; established by David Crosby Baxter, a local merchant, as method for local businesses to advertise their wares and services; subscribers topped at around 7,000 in 1990s; acquired by John and Karl Nash in 1937, who created The Acorn Press as the publishing company which over the years published weekly newspapers in Bethel, Redding, Weston, Wilton, in CT and Lewisboro, Pound Ridge and Bedford in NY; operated many years by Karl and wife, Elizabeth (“Betty Grace”), Nash; merged with the Hersam family papers (New Canaan, Darien) in 1997 to create a seven-newspaper group as Hersam Acorn Newspapers; In 2007, Hersam Acorn bought 11 more newspapers, plus two printing plants and other publications in southwestern Connecticut and southern Vermont; company sold 2018 to Hearst Media, local offices are all closed and moved to Danbury and Norwalk.
