The Berkshire Eagle

New England Newspapers Inc. traces its origins back to the Western Star, a weekly newspaper founded in 1789 in Stockbridge, Mass. That paper changed its name and place of publication several times, as well as its ownership, but it was a continuously operated enterprise, which eventually became the weekly Berkshire County Eagle in 1852. Kelton B. Miller, along with several partners, purchased that paper in 1891. The following year, on May 9, 1892, it began daily publication as The Berkshire Evening Eagle. Miller soon bought out his partners, and the paper remained in the Miller family until 1995. The Millers purchased several other newspapers along the way, including the Bennington Banner in 1961, the Brattleboro Reformer in 1969, and the Manchester Journal in the early 1980s. They also launched a commercial printing division in 1961. Over the years, The Berkshire Eagle and its sister newspapers became a very highly regarded. In 1973, one of the Eagle's editors, Roger Linscott, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his editorial writing, attracting national attention to the Millers' newspapers. The Eagle became an attraction for journalism school graduates starting their careers, and many of those reporters went on to renowned careers throughout the journalistic world in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time magazine and others. MediaNews Group, based in Denver, purchased these newspapers from the Millers in 1995. MediaNews added the North Adams Transcript to the group in 1996. The Transcript was merged with the Eagle in 2014. MediaNews Group, itself, was combined with other entities to form Digital First Media.