DAWN OF AN ERA

The very first edition of the Star is published on Nov. 3, 1892.

The entire printing staff of the News, a Toronto newspaper, found themselves locked out of their offices one October morning in1892 — courtesy of the paper’s managers. A final blow for the 25 staffers, in a long labour feud over lousy wages and looming job cuts.

Eight days later — on November 3, 1892 — the Evening Star’s first edition filled newsstands across Toronto. Boldly proclaiming itself the “Paper of the People,” it featured local, provincial and sports stories aimed at working-class audiences — all for a penny.

“The management say it will be an independent paper, giving particular attention to its news columns,” a prominent Toronto newspaper said of the Star’s founding.

Also on the front page was the paper’s masthead — which included every single one of the News’ former printers, under the management of ex-foreman Horatio Hocken.

Toronto World publisher W.F. Maclean lent his paper’s press out to the Evening Star until they could purchase their own. That first edition — 8,000 copies — sold out within the afternoon. Hocken would need to go back to Maclean and arrange for another 2,000 copies to be printed by day’s end.

The Evening Star’s honeymoon phase only lasted about six weeks. Circulation began to slacken off, with almost no profit to show. Maclean became a co-owner and took Hocken and his partners on.

After seven rocky years of bankruptcy, litigation and unsteady publication, the Evening Star was bought by a wealthy group of liberal-minded Toronto businessmen — who hired publisher Joseph Atkinson.

By the time Atkinson died in 1948, he’d fashioned the Evening Star into the Toronto Daily Star.