Fulda Free Press has been named the January Business of the Month by the Fulda Area Community Club.
The business is owned by Gerald and Louise Johnson.
Since August 1, 1972, the Fulda Free Press has been published on a weekly basis.
For over 140 years, Fulda has had at least one local newspaper. Early publishers included Ingalls and Hardy, A. B. Earl, B. W. Woolstencroft, J.A. Maxwell, Henry Pfeiffer, Harry Calkins, Johnson and Ghent, Ivan C. Sheets, M. A. Mattison, and F. A. Christianson.
After World War I, Albert W. Johnson became the owner. Pete and Laura Wagner purchased the paper from A. W. Johnson. After the Wagners, the paper was owned for short periods of time by Joe Fazendin, Dudley Eakin, Jim Frick, and Sally “Connie” Wordelman.
The Fulda Free Press was located at 204 N. St. Paul Avenue in Fulda until in 1988 when the Johnson’s purchased the building at 118 N. St. Paul Avenue from Larry Gielen, and moved the offices of the newspaper to that location.
The Southwestern Peach, an advertising supplement in 16 area newspapers, has been part of the Fulda Free Press since 1973.
Sister publications owned and published by the Johnson’s are the Tri County News, Heron Lake, purchased in 1985; the Murray County News in Slayton, started in 1987; and the Nobles County Review, purchased in 1991. Publication of the Murray County Advantage began in 1997.
The Fulda Free Press and its sister publications serve southwest Minnesota through weekly newspapers, on-line subscriptions and their individual websites.
