Melville Elijah Stone (born August 22, 1848 in Hudson, Illinois – died February 15, 1929 in New York City) was a newspaper publisher, the founder of the Chicago Daily News, who became well known as the general manager of the reorganized Associated Press.

Stone was the son of a Methodist minister, the Rev. Elijah and Sophia Creighton Stone. In 1876, Stone, who started out as a reporter, founded the first Chicago penny paper, the Chicago Daily News. The paper met with a stunning initial success but soon encountered a problem because the nickel was the smallest coin in general circulation; Stone solved this conundrum by bringing several barrels of pennies from the Philadelphia mint and convincing leading merchants to price goods at odd prices (59 cents, 69 cents, 99 cents, etc.); customers' only ready spending option with their one-cent change was to but the Daily News, which an increasing number did. In 1881 he established the Chicago Morning News (renamed the Chicago Record). Stone became general manager of the reorganized Associated Press in 1893, and under his direction it became one of the great news agencies. He retired in 1921. Stone died of hardening of the arteries.

Stone's son, Herbert Stuart Stone, perished on the RMS Lusitania. Another son, Melville E. Jr., also predeceased him but he was survived by his wife, the former Martha McFarland of Chicago, whom he married in 1869, and his daughter Elizabeth Creighton Stone. Stone's brother was the astronomer Ormond Stone. A Liberty ship is named in his honor.

References

• Fifty Years a Journalist, by Melville E. Stone, (1921), Doubleday, Page and Co.
• Columbia Encyclopedia, sixth edition (2001)

1848 births | 1929 deaths | Newspaper publishers of the 19th century (people)