Company History
1865 – Alfred Horatio Belo (1839—1901) is employed at The Daily News by owner and publisher Willard Richardson. Upon Richardson’s death, Belo acquires full ownership of the Company in 1875.
1874 – George Bannerman Dealey (1859—1946) is employed as an office boy at The Daily News beginning on October 12. He establishes The Dallas Morning News on behalf of A. H. Belo in 1885 and is promoted to general manager of A. H. Belo & Co. in 1894. Dealey is elected vice president in 1906. He buys controlling interest in the Company in 1926 and serves as chairman until his death in 1946.
1885 – The first edition of The Dallas Morning News is published on October 1.
1922 – The Dallas Morning News declares war on the Ku Klux Klan. Resultant advertising and circulation losses threaten to bankrupt the Company, which survives by selling the Galveston Daily News and drawing on the profit of a new medium — WFAA Radio.
1926 – G. B. Dealey acquires control of the Company from the Belo heirs, incorporating it as A. H. Belo Corporation in honor of his mentor A. H. Belo.
1946 – George Bannerman Dealey dies after 72 years devoted to the Company. Leadership of the Company goes to his son E. M. (Ted) Dealey; son-in-law, James M. Moroney; and his grandsons Joe M. Dealey, H. Ben Decherd and James M. Moroney Jr. Over time leadership is passed along to great-grandsons Robert W. Decherd and James M. Moroney III.
1950 – WFAA-TV is acquired and eventually becomes the leading network-affiliated station in the Dallas/Fort Worth market. By the time the Company sells its broadcast operations to Gannett in 2013, WFAA has become a nationally-recognized model of integrity in broadcast journalism.
1981 – A. H. Belo Corporation becomes publicly traded on December 9. The Company lists on the New York Stock Exchange two years later and is one of the oldest companies on the NYSE.
1983 – A. H. Belo Corporation doubles its size by purchasing the Corinthian Broadcast Group of television stations from Dun & Bradstreet in the largest television transaction to that point in history.
1985 – The Dallas Morning News celebrates 100 years of publication on October 1.
1986 – The Dallas Morning News wins its first Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.
1989 – The Dallas Morning News wins the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism.
1991 – A. H. Belo Corporation acquires the assets of its failing crosstown rival, the Dallas Times Herald, after a decades-long battle for market leadership. The purchase enables the seller to fund the Times Herald pension commitment.
1991 – The Dallas Morning News wins the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.
1992 – The Dallas Morning News wins the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, and A. H. Belo Corporation celebrates 150 years of continuous operations.
1993 – The Dallas Morning News wins the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography.
1994 – The Dallas Morning News wins the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.
1997 – A. H. Belo Corporation doubles in size again by acquiring The Providence Journal Company, owner of newspapers and television stations nationwide.
1997 – The Dallas Morning News is the first newspaper in the country to publish a breaking story online before it appeared in print. This was the start of A. H. Belo’s efforts to extend its recognized brand of quality journalism to broader audiences and provide its advertisers greater visibility as websites emerged and developed.
1999 – A. H. Belo Corporation combines its Company-wide Internet initiatives into a freestanding entity called Belo Interactive, which morphed over time into the award-winning Medium Giant, a full-service digital marketing agency.
2001 – A. H. Belo Corporation’s name for doing business is changed to Belo Corp.
2003 – The Dallas Morning News launches Al Dia, a general information Spanish language news and information source, online daily and in print weekly.
2004 – The Dallas Morning News wins the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
2006 – The Dallas Morning News wins the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.
2008 – Belo Corp. spins off its newspaper business to form a publicly traded company called A. H. Belo Corporation. Robert W. Decherd continues to play a leadership role in both companies. Dunia A. Shive is named president and chief executive officer of Belo Corp.
2010 – The Dallas Morning News wins the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing.
2013 – Belo Corp., the television company, is acquired by Gannett Company.
Over the next few years, A. H. Belo Corporation sells its other newspaper properties, The Providence Journal, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, and the Denton Record-Chronicle to focus its resources on The Dallas Morning News.
2017 – The Dallas Morning News and A. H. Belo Corporation move from their iconic George Dahl-designed building at 508 Young Street to another Dahl building, the fully renovated former Dallas Public Library at 1954 Commerce Street.
2018 – Robert W. Decherd resumes his former roles of chairman, president and chief executive officer of A. H. Belo Corporation when James M. Moroney III retires. Decherd’s tenure in those roles began in 1987 and he was a member of the Board of Directors from 1976 until 2023.
2021 – A. H. Belo Corporation announces the Company’s name will change to DallasNews Corporation and be listed on the Nasdaq.
2022 – DallasNews Corporation names Grant S. Moise chief executive officer and Mary Kathryn (Katy) Murray president of the Company.
2023 – Robert W. Decherd retires from DallasNews Corporation’s Board of Directors after serving as a director for 47 years and as an employee of the Company for 50 years.
DallasNews Corporation is the leading local news and information publishing institution in Texas. The Company maintains its commitment to producing the highest quality of journalism and creating innovative digital marketing opportunities. As new technology and innovation impact the media business, DallasNews continues to point the way as an industry leader.