J-C Press Company History
Still Woman Owned After 150 Years
In 1859, J-C Press sprang up among the wheat, wildflowers and wagons of pioneer Minnesota. They are the longest continually operating business in Steele county. To be in business for 150 years you have to do something right.
Today, they are an award winning, woman owned, G7 certified, full service commercial printer located 45 minutes south of the Twin Cities.
Every great story has an equally compelling back story. The tale of the Journal-Chronicle Company (J-C Press) is no exception. In 1983 J-C Press became a certified woman owned enterprise. While there were many other woman owned companies in Minnesota at the time, Sabra Otteson is nonetheless a pioneer in the modern woman’s movement and Minnesota’s commercial printing industry. What few people know is that this company may very well have been the first woman owned business in Minnesota. Two pioneer women born 112 years apart sharing a fascinating history.
The Owatonna Journal first appeared in early 1859. Hiram M. Sheetz, began the newspaper along with his wife, M.M. Sheetz. Tragedy struck in October 1859 when Mr. Sheetz died of typhoid fever. Mrs. Sheetz continued to operate the Owatonna Journal after his death.
In 1863 the newspaper was sold and Mrs. Sheetz returned to Illinois with her two young children. There she devoted much time and energy to caring for the soldiers’ and their families returning from the Civil War.
In 1872, she and her daughters moved to Colorado where Mrs. Sheetz became a founding member and Vice President of the Territorial Woman’s Suffrage Society. In 1893 Colorado finally approved full suffrage for woman.
Egbert Kilbourne (E.K.) Whiting started the Owatonna Chronicle newspaper in 1897. In 1906 Whiting acquired the Owatonna Journal forming the Journal-Chronicle Company.
For the next 41 years, the Journal-Chronicle newspaper was the conservative Republican voice in Steele County. In 1929, the newspaper achieved its highest honor being recognized as the Best Weekly Newspaper in America by the National Editorial Association.
In 1938 E.K. Whiting sold the Journal-Chronicle newspaper operations to the competing Peoples Press and focused exclusively on commercial printing and stationary supplies.
E.K. died in 1940 and the business passed to his two sons. They would successfully operate the family business until 1983.
123 years after its first woman owner, Journal-Chronicle was acquired by E.K. Whitings granddaughter, Sabra Whiting Otteson, becoming a certified woman owned enterprise in 1984
Through her vision and leadership, the business grew its revenues from less than $500,000 per year to in excess of $9,000,000 annually. What was once a small two color print operation in a basement off main street Owatonna became a full service, six color, offset and digital commercial printer operating from a modern 57,000 square foot facility servicing over 400 business clients throughout the Midwest.
Sabra served 15 years as a Board Member for Printing Industry of MN (PIM) and was the first and only woman Chairman of the Board; During her term as Chair PIM established and funded the inaugural year of the PIM Scholarship Fund.
In addition to running the business and raising a family, Sabra was committed to community service. She was President of United Way of Steele County, President of the Owatonna Rotary Club, Member of Board of Trustees for Owatonna Hospital, Trustee of the Owatonna Foundation and a Board Member Owatonna College and University Center
Although separated by 112 years, the comparison between the lives of Mrs. Sheetz and Mrs. Otteson is striking. Two educated woman, involved in the printing industry making significant contributions to their communities. Their lives and legacies intersecting in Owatonna, Minnesota.
