The Morgan Hill Times
3rd and Monterey St. Morgan Hill, CA 95037
The Sun-Times, near corner of 3rd Street and Monterey
George A Edes
How did an 1890s ink-and-paper newspaper survive a cutthroat media war to become the town's oldest continuously operating business?
Long before the internet or smartphones, if you wanted to know the local gossip, the price of prunes, or who was visiting from out of town, you turned to the pages of the Morgan Hill Times. Founded on April 2, 1894, by pioneer newsman George A. Edes, the paper originally hit the streets as The Morgan Hill Sun. At the time, Morgan Hill was just a tiny, rural stop along the Southern Pacific Railroad, and Edes printed the news using old-school, hand-cranked printing presses that literally left ink on the fingers of everyone in town.
But the paper’s continued existence wasn't a guarantee, it actually had to survive Morgan Hill's very own "media war." In 1899, a rival paper launched called The Morgan Hill Times. Enter Reverend H.H. Farnham, a local minister with a keen eye for business, who bought the Times in 1900. He expanded the size and type of news printed, and soon advertisers left the Sun and moved to the larger paper. The town wasn’t big enough for two papers, and Edes sold his Sun to Farnham in 1901, who called it the Sun-Times. Eventually, the "Sun" was dropped, and the paper solidified its place as the definitive voice of the community.
Because the paper has been operating for well over a century, its offices have practically played musical chairs across downtown. Early on, the Edes family operated out of a classic wooden storefront on the corner of 2nd Street and Monterey Road. As the paper grew with its new owner, it moved to various other downtown sites. Over time, it has been located on Monterey Road, 30 E. Third St, and most recently on Depot Street in the Granary building.
Today, while the Morgan Hill Times has transitioned to digital news and a sleek weekly print layout, its legacy as the town's ultimate storyteller remains unbroken. In fact, when the Morgan Hill Historical Society produces its “Stories from the Past” documentary films, the vintage archives of the Times are the primary source used to verify the legends. It stands today as Morgan Hill's oldest continuously operating business, proving that while the buildings and technologies change, the town's desire for a good local story never goes out of print.