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On February 27, 2009, Denver became a one-newspaper town with the closing of its oldest daily paper, the Rocky Mountain News.

The story began on December 4, 2008, when the E. W. Scripps Company announced that it was putting the Rocky Mountain News up for sale.  Here are some great sources for news stories about what's been happening in the closure:

RMN Business reporter David Milstead's blog on the sale

Time magazine cover story, "How to Save Your Newspaper," by Aspen Institute Prez Walter Isaacson

IWantMyRocky.com, a site established by Rocky reporters and followers

According to Nielsen, web traffic to the top 10 online newspapers has grown 16% over last year.  So it's not the Denver Post who is benefitting most as papers like the Rocky face challenges: more likely, it's the  New York Times,  USAToday, and the Washington Post who are getting the hits. But guess how most people got to those places? Google.     Source: Nielsen Online

Some History:

1859 - Rocky Mountain News starts

1861 - Colorado becomes a territory

1892 - Denver Post established as the Evening Post, a Democratic paper in support of Grover Cleveland's bid for presidency. But when Cleveland opposed the government purchase of silver, Colorado went into a depression and the paper folded until 1895.

1880s-1920s - the Golden Age of Newspapers: 11,314 newspapers in 1880. Circulation and readership increased; retail advertising got its start and made news distribution profitable. Also the first era of media consolidation, as families built newspaper empires (Hearst, Pulitzer, Cox, Scripps).

1920: an average of 1.3 newspapers were read by each U.S. household each day 1920s - 1980s: the second era of media consolidation for newspapers.

Between 1923 and 1980, the number of counties with two or more dailies fell by half, thanks to radio, television, and rising expenses for afternoon/evening editions.

1940: Rocky Mountain News editor Jack Foster introduces the tabloid format to breathe life into then-troubled Rocky. His wife starts the first newspaper advice column, Molly Mayfield.

1970s: Newspaper penetration goes below 100% for the first time.

1970: Newspaper Preservation Act: establishes legality of Joint Operating Agreements so that newspapers in the same city can share expenses. The first JOA actually dates to 1933 in Albuquerque - it was also Scripps, and folded in 2008.

2000: Newspaper penetration hits an all-time low of 53%

2001: Joint Operating Agreement has Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post share expenses of printing and business. 2008: Scripps closes one of two papers in JOAs in Albuquerque, Birmingham, AL, and Cincinnati

2008: Detroit Free Press and Detroit News JOA cancels delivery on most days; chainwide furloughs at Gannett, Lee Enterprises, and MediaNews Group papers; Rocky Mountain News put up for sale

2009: first week of Feb: Hearst announces it will shut down Seattle Post-Intelligencer or let it continue as online-only