Webb Company

This private bank was formed as Hankins & Co. in 1790 and was styled Webb & Co. from 1815, when Thomas Webb took over the business. It was acquired by the Gloucestershire Banking Co. (est. 1831) in 1883.

From the guide to the Webb & Company records, 1883, (Lloyds Banking Group (London))

The Webb Company was founded in 1882 as the Webb Publishing Company when Edward A. Webb, a Fargo, North Dakota newspaperman, purchased The Northwestern Farmer and Breeder, a Monthly Journal for the Farm, Orchard, and Household. The title was shortened to The Northwestern Farmer in March, 1893, and changed to The Farmer in September, 1898.

The company moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1890. A book division was created in 1894; a Winona, Minnesota newspaper entitled The Farmer's Wife was purchased in 1903; and the firm began printing telephone directories in 1908. The Farmer's Wife was sold in the mid-1930s.

In 1904 Webb was joined by two associates, Albert H. Harmon and Horace C. Klein. When Webb died in 1915, these men took control of the company and eventually passed the company ownership on to their sons, Horace D. Klein and Reuel Harmon.

The company continued to diversify and add publications, eventually becoming one of the largest printing and publishing firms in the nation. It purchased and merged Farm, Stock, and Home with The Farmer in 1929; The Farmer and Breeder, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota publication, was added in 1930; the Minnesota Farmer was purchased in 1960; and the Dakota Farmer was acquired in January 1980.

The company built a new plant in 1962, which consolidated its operations under one roof. Its common stock was offered to the public in 1972 and its name was shortened to Webb Company in 1973. By the late 1970s the company had expanded its operations to include four major divisions: Publishing, Creative Communications, Webb Printing Division, and Midwest Printing Company.

After 100 years of independent operation the Webb Company was purchased in November 1986 by British Printing & Communications Corp. In 1989 the firm was sold to Intertec Publishing and became Webb Division, Intertec Publishing.

Historical data was taken from the collection and from Webb Division, Intertec Publishing.

From the guide to the Webb Company records., 1900-1992., (Minnesota Historical Society)