SMC Newspapers: The SSF Enterprise

Press room interior early 1900s
SSF Public Library Photostream on Flickr

The Enterprise was established as a weekly in South San Francisco in 1895. The first publisher was Ebenezer E Cunningham. Through much of it's existence it remained a weekly although in the mid twentieth century it was a semi-weekly for a period of time. The name on the masthead went through a number of renditions as noted in the list below, but those changes did not always signal a change in ownership.

E E Cunningham
Biographies of
Representative Men

The paper was first located at 261 Grand Street, moving in
the 1900s to 312 Linden Ave and in 1931 to 411 Grand Ave.  In 1964 the San Mateo County Times purchased the Enterprise and moved it to 323 Mayfair Ave.

In Reminisences of SSF and the Enterprise Journal, Vincent Mager tells some of the early history of the Enterprise Journal which was a pioneer in many areas, including being the first newspaper west of the Mississippi to adopt the offset press in 1942.  This allowed the inclusion of more and better pictures. 

• The Enterprise Vol. 1, no. 1 (Nov. 9, 1895)-v. 35, no. 5 (Jan. 28, 1927) Publisher E E Cunningham  Microfilm UCR, SSFPL (possibly original as well), CA Lib starts 1907, 
• The enterprise and the South San Francisco journal. Vol. 35, no. 6 (Feb. 4, 1927)-v. 46, no. 42 (Oct. 21, 1938) (South San Francisco [Calif.])  Concord Publishing Co. 1927-1938 Microfilm UCR, SSFPL  
• The Enterprise  Vol. 46, no. 43 (Oct. 28, 1938)-v. 54, no. 43 (Oct. 26, 1949) Publisher: Aleen E. Bramble and Logan L. Franklin Microfilm CALib, SSFPL, 
• South San Francisco enterprise. Vol. 54, no. 44 (Nov. 2, 1949)-v. 55, no. 12 (Mar. 22, 1950) Publisher: Aileen K. Bramble, Logan L. Franklin Microfilm CALib, SSFPL, 
• South San Francisco enterprise-journal. Vol. 55, no. 13 (Mar. 30, 1950)-62nd year, no. 45 (Nov. 7, 1957) Publisher: Aileen E. Bramble, Logan L. Franklin Microfilm CALib, SSFPL, 
• South San Francisco enterprise-journal and shopping time.  62nd year no. 46 (Nov. 14, 1957)-64th year, no. 42 (Oct. 18, 1961) Publisher: Industrial City Pub. Co Microfilm CALib, SSFPL, 
• Enterprise-journal and shopping time.  64th year, no. 43 (Oct. 25, 1961)-72nd year, no. 28 (July 10, 1968) Publisher: Industrial City Pub. Co Microfilm CALib, SSFPL, 
• Enterprise-journal . 72nd year, no. 29 (July 17, 1968)-76th year, no. 42 (May 26, 1972) Publisher: Industrial City Pub. Co Microfilm CALib, SSFPL, 
• South San Francisco enterprise-journal 76th year, no. 43 (May 31, 1972)-83rd year, no. 16 (Feb. 23, 1979) Publisher: Industrial City Pub. Co. Microfilm CALib, SSFPL, 
• Enterprise journal. (Recorder-progress) 3rd year, no. 17 (Feb. 28, 1979)- Publisher:
  Industrial City Pub. Co. Microfilm CALib, SSFPL,    
• Sold to San Mateo Times in 1980

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CA Lib - California State Library
UCR - University of California Riverside - Newspaper Master Files 
SSFPL - South San Francisco Public Library

City of SSF - Facebook - A bit of HistoryBiographies of Representative Men - E E Cunningham pg 129