September 20, 1862: Birth of Duluth newspaperman A. C. Weiss

On this day in 1862, future Duluthian A. C. Weiss, editor and publisher of the Duluth Herald, was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Weiss first moved to Minnesota in 1870, were he was educated in St. Paul public schools. He then went to work for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, who sent him to the Zenith City in 1884 to act as the paper’s northern Minnesota correspondent. According to historian Walter Van Brunt, “The Duluth Herald was established in 1883 by Myron Bunnell, who after six years sold out…. A stock company was formed to acquire the ownership of the Herald plant in 1891, and it was in November of that year that Mr. Weiss bought a financial interest and became president, treasurer and general manager of the company…. Mr. Weiss has been the inspiration and guiding genius of the Herald for thirty years, and has made it one of the leading papers of the northwest.” Van Brunt’s biography of Weiss also lists his other accomplishments: “He was a director of the Associated Press from 1910 until 1921…. The first public office he held was as alderman of Duluth in 1888-90. From 1890 to 1893 he was a member of the Board of Managers of the Minnesota State Prison. He was a delegate at large to the National Convention of the Democratic party at Denver in 1908, and also a delegate at large and chairman of the Minnesota delegation at the Baltimore Convention in 1912, and during that campaign was a member of the Advisory Board of the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Weiss served as a member of the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety during the World war. Weiss was also quite socially active and belonged to the Commercial Club, the Kitchi Gammi Club, Northland Country Clubs, the Duluth Curling Club, and the Duluth Boat Club. He retired in 1921.”

A. C. Weiss. (Image: Duluth Public Library)