Crosby Stuart Noyes

Crosby Stuart Noyes (February 16, 1825 – February 21, 1908) was the publisher of the Washington Evening Star.

Crosby Stuart Noyes
Crosby Stuart Noyes
Born(1823-02-16)February 16, 1823
Minot, Maine
DiedFebruary 21, 1908(1908-02-21) (aged 85)
Pasadena, California
EmployerWashington Evening Star
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Selina Williams
ChildrenTheodore W. Noyes
Frank Brett Noyes
Thomas Clarence Noyes

Biography

Noyes was born on February 16, 1825 in Minot, Maine, and most known for publishing the Washington Evening Star. He was interested in writing from his childhood, publishing his own juvenile newspaper called the Minot Notion when he was fifteen. Maine newspapers later began to print humorous sketches that he had written. One such sketch, a dialect-heavy piece titled "A Yankee in a Cotton Factory" was widely republished.[1]

Having arranged to write letters from Washington for several New England newspapers, he traveled to Washington, D.C. in 1847; his funds running low and unable to afford train fare, he had to walk from Baltimore to Washington.[2] In 1855 he traveled Europe on foot and during that time contributed letters to the Boston Transcript.

For several months, Noyes worked for a bookseller, as an usher in a theatre, and as a route agent for The Baltimore Sun before becoming a writer for a local weekly, the Washington News. He also began writing reports in the form of letters for newspapers in Maine, Boston, and Philadelphia, and became part of the press gallery that covered the United States Congress.[2]

In 1855, Noyes returned to Washington and became a reporter for the Evening Star which had been created only a few years earlier in 1852.[3] It was managed by William Douglas Wallach. Circulation increased in the decade before the American Civil War, and Noyes developed contacts with the Lincoln administration's cabinet such that the Star became an outlet for official announcements. Noyes eventually rose up to the position of assistant editor. In 1867 Noyes became editor-in-chief after Wallach sold the paper to Noyes and two other investors for $110,000.[4]

After the Civil War, Noyes and his newspaper crusaded to improve Washington's buildings and infrastructure, encouraging the efforts of Alexander Robey Shepherd.[2] In 1863, he served on the City Council and for a couple of terms as an alderman. He was active in the establishment of Rock Creek Park.[5]

Miss Noyes

He married Elizabeth S. Williams in 1856. They had three sons, Theodore Williams, Frank Brett, and Thomas Clarence, and at least one daughter.[2] Theodore was an associate editor at the Evening Star, and Frank was the treasurer and business manager.[4]

In 1893, Noyes and Brainard Warner, an early developer of Kensington, MD, built and stocked what became the first public library in the DC area, now known as the Noyes Children's Library in Kensington.[6]

He died on February 21, 1908 in Pasadena, California.[7][8]

Crosby S. Noyes Education Campus, a public school in Washington, DC, was named in his honor. Two residential streets—Noyes Drive and Crosby Road—carry his name in the Woodside Park neighborhood of Silver Spring, MD; the entire neighborhood was developed from his country estate, known as Alton Farm.[9]

References
  1. Noyes, Crosby S (4 November 1847). "A Yankee in a Cotton Factory". Commercial Advertiser. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  2. Proctor, John Clagett (1932). Washington Past and Present. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co. pp. 890–894.
  3. http://jhowell.com/tng/getperson.php?personID=I164&tree=1 Newbold Noyes, Jr,, Howell Family Genealogy Pages
  4. Crew, Harvey W. (1892). Centennial History of the City of Washington D.C. Dayton, Ohio: United Brethern Publishing House.
  5. Macfarland, Henry Brown Floyd (1908). District of Columbia: concise biographies of its prominent and representative contemporary citizens, and valuable statistical data. The Potomac Press. p. 348. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  6. Ditto, Gary. Kensington Stories.
  7. "Crosby S. Noyes editor of the Washington Star, died late this afternoon". Dallas Morning News. February 22, 1908. Retrieved 2008-12-14. Crosby Stewart Noyes, whose death was reported today from Pasadena, Cal., was 83 years of age, and no less than sixty years of his manhood had been spent in the newspaper business. He was born in Minot, Maine, Feb. 16, 1825, and, finding farm life too hard for his frail physique, he came to Washington in 1847, making the last stages of his journey on foot for lack of funds. He began his newspaper work in the following year as a special correspondent and a writer for the Washington News. From that date until a week preceding his death Mr. Noyes labored unceasingly at his chosen profession, and set a high example upon Washington journalism as a purveyor of clean, sound, active facts.
  8. "Surrounded by All Members of Family, Veteran Washington Editor Passes Away at Pasadena. His Long and Useful Career". Los Angeles Times. February 22, 1908. Crosby Stuart Noyes, editor-in-chief of the Washington Evening Star, died at 5:30 o'clock last evening at the Hotel Raymond, Pasadena, after an illness ...
  9. Oshel, Robert (1998). Home Sites of Distinction: The History of Woodside Park. Silver Spring, MD: Woodside Park Civic Association. pp. 27–38.
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