Founded in 1896 by Edward W. Hazard, the Bemidji Pioneer came into being to offer a dedicated voice to a rapidly growing frontier logging town. The idea sparked when Hazard decided to create a platform that would cover local news, community events, and town development in a way he felt was lacking, as the rugged northern Minnesota region had absolutely no established media to connect its early settlers. After over a century of evolution, the historic publication continues to operate today under the ownership of the regional media group, Forum Communications Company. Today, the Bemidji Pioneer and its digital site, bemidjipioneer.com, are run by a dedicated team of local journalists and are mainly focused on community news. They cover a wide variety of daily topics including local city politics, regional entertainment, outdoors news, and local sports—especially the nearby Bemidji State University athletics. They're based in Bemidji, Minnesota, and have made a name for themselves among college students and locals looking for a reliable, deeply-rooted take on the happenings in the northern Minnesota world. One interesting fact: A unique fact about the Bemidji Pioneer is that its name is completely literal—it is actually older than the officially incorporated city it serves! Founder Edward W. Hazard printed the very first issues of the newspaper on a hand press in a rough wooden shack in 1896, several years before Bemidji was officially incorporated as a city, making the publication a true "pioneer" of the region.