About The Plainfield Enterprise

Enterprise Newspapers, the parent company of the Plainfield Enterprise, Shorewood Sentinel and Bugle Newspaper group got its start on Aug. 10, 1887 when U.S.G. Blakely published the first issue of the Plainfield Enterprise Newspaper.

Blakely served as publisher, editor, typesetter, printer, reporter and advertising manager, keeping the residents of Plainfield informed of local happenings. He sold The Enterprise in 1934 — nearly 50 years after he began it.

Blakely sold the paper to A. Maurice and Lois Utt, who owned it for one year before selling to Ed. J. Wiliamson and Rosco Stanley, who owned The Enterprise until 1937.

Claude Phillips and G.L Howieson owned the paper for two years each until Howieson sold to Irving Johnson in 1959.

Johnson was owner for 20 years before it was sold to Scott Miller and Larry Ellis in 1979.

In 1985, Wayne and Beverly purchased The Enterprise from Miller and Ellis and became integral parts of the local community.

In 1996, PerryCo started the Shorewood Sentinel and the couple ran the papers side by side until Wayne's death in 2006.

After that, Beverly and the Perry family continued to operate the Enterprise and Sentinel before selling the papers in 2009 to Richard Masterson, owner of Voyager Media.

Masterson owned the Bugle Newspaper group, which still serves 13 communities with five publications anchored in Joliet, Downers Grove, Bolingbrook, Romeoville and Niles.

While Masterson started four of the papers, he purchased the Niles Bugle in 2003 from the Besser family, who started the paper in 1957.

Voyager Media was renamed Enterprise Newspaper Inc. when it was purchased by London Publishing Co. in Oct. of 2012.