Chicago Commercial Advertiser

City: Chicago

County: Cook

State: Illinois

The Chicago Commercial Advertiser commenced as a weekly newspaper on February 3, 1847. Alfred Dutch was the editor and publisher. Dutch used the pages of the paper to promote the political, financial, business, and corporation interests of Chicago and Illinois. Dutch's editorials and influence proved instrumental in obtaining a large grant of federal land for the Illinois Central Railroad. Dutch also used the paper to oppose and defeat an Illinois version of the Maine Law prohibiting the production and sale of alcohol. In 1849, Dutch began publishing daily, weekly, and tri-weekly editions. Financial difficulties, however, forced frequent hiatuses in publication, and in March 1853, creditors seized the type and other materials. Dutch re-established the paper in April, only for it to close down permanently in 1858.

Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879 , vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 58; Story of Chicago in Connection with the Printing Business (Chicago: Regan, 1912), 161; A. T. Andreas, History of Chicago (Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1884), 1:395.