 Headquarters | |
| Owner | Rust Communications |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Jon K. Rust |
| Founded | 1904 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 301 Broadway, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702 |
| Circulation | 7,000 (Daily) 9,000 (Sunday)[1] |
| Website | semissourian |
The Southeast Missourian is a 3-day per week newspaper published inCape Girardeau, Missouri, and serves (as the name implies) the southeastern portion of Missouri.
The paper began publication on October 3, 1904, asThe Daily Republican. Brothers George (b. May 14, 1869, d. 1956) and Fred Naeter (b. Jan. 8, 1874, d. Sept. 18, 1965) ofSt. Louis purchased a defunct paper of that name after visiting the town in September 1904 and revived it.[2][3] The paper changed its name to theSoutheast Missourian in 1918.[4]
When Fred Naeter died in 1965, the Naeters' nephew, Harry A. Naeter, Jr. (b. June 9, 1917, d. Feb. 16, 1994) (whose father had also worked with the Naeter brothers on the paper but died in 1918—it was Harry Sr. that championed the 1918 name change before his death), became publisher.[5] In late 1976, the paper was sold toThomson Newspapers.[4] It was then purchased by Gary Rust in 1986,[4][6] and continues to be owned byRust Communications. With the Southeast Missourian as its flagship publication, as of 2009, family-owned[7] Rust Communications had full or part ownership of 18 daily papers, 30 weekly papers, and 17 radio stations in eight states.[8]
TheSoutheast Missourian Building was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 2005.[9]
An earlier paper which went by the nameSoutheast Missourian was founded in 1895 by W.W. Wright inNew Madrid, Missouri.[3]