Kenneth Pringle of Barron’s writes about its founder, Clarence Barron, on the publication’s 100th anniversary.
Pringle writes, “He was a complicated man in fast-changing times. Born in Boston in 1855, Clarence Walker Barron won awards for school essays and wrote for newspapers as a teen. He was the Boston Evening Transcript’s financial editor when, in 1887, he founded the Boston News Bureau, sending financial news by messenger for a dollar a day.
“After a year managing The Wall Street Journal, Barron bought Dow Jones in 1902 for $130,000 (about $4 million today). On his watch, the Journal’s circulation grew from 7,000 to more than 40,000; Barron’s reached 30,000 by 1927.
“Barron grew wealthy, with a prime residence on Beacon Street and a summer home in Cohasset, Mass., that sold for $27 million in 2010. He moved in the same social circles as the rich and powerful he covered, and conversations inevitably turned to investing.”
Read more here.
