Potter set publishing precedent

Minnie Potter

When her husband John Potter died in 1898 and left his 32-year-old widow to run the newspaper business that had been in his family for years. She incorporated the The Rock Island Argus, served as its first president, and became the publisher of the paper.

Over the years she gradually bestowed some of her responsibilites at the paper on her three children, but held the position of president of the J.W. Potter Co. until her 1936 death.

One of the major changes she implemented at the newspaper was a new, nonpartisan approach to reporting.

The Argus was traditionally Democratic, and since the majority of Rock Island did not share those views it was not as widely read as the Republican Rock Island Daily Union. Mrs. Potter believed that readers would rather have a paper with no political affiliations than one biased toward their own party. She was right. The Argus bought the Rock Island Daily Union in 1920.

Mrs. Potter also left a lasting gift to business by giving it a new home in 1925, which it still occupies today. She built the building as a memorial to her late husband.

The Argus wasn't the only Quad-City communication business that Mrs. Potter had her hand in. In 1932 the family, lead by Mrs. Potter bought WHBF radio and set up the Rock Island Broadcasting Co.