Biography:

The Philadelphia Inquirer is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States and has won 19 Pulitzer Prizes.  It was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer.  Six months later Walker and Norvell sold the paper to Jesper Harding, the publisher of United States Gazette.  Under Harding’s leadership, the newspaper dramatically increased circulation.
During the Civil War, the newspaper increased circulation to over 70,000 and was popular amongst Union and Confederate soldiers.  In 1863, the Inquirer became one of the first American newspapers to use a web-fed rotary press which allowed for printing on both sides of the paper at once.  In the 1880s circulation decreased and in 1889 the Inquirer was sold to James Elverson who increased staff and employed the latest technological advances in printing.  James Elverson, Jr. inherited the newspaper after his father’s death in 1911.  The Inquirer is still in business and is one of Philadelphia’s most prominent newspapers.