SOUTH BEND — Schurz Communications announced Monday it will sell its publishing division, including the South Bend Tribune, to GateHouse Media.
Terms of the sale, which is to be closed on Friday, have not yet been announced.
Schurz was founded in 1872 by brothers-in-law Alfred Miller and Elmer Crockett, who published the first edition of The Tribune on March 9 of that year.
The sale includes all 20 Schurz publications, including the Herald-Times in Bloomington, Ind., The Petoskey News-Review in Michigan, The American News in Aberdeen, S.D., and The Herald-Mail in Hagerstown, Md., as well as a group of smaller papers surrounding Bloomington.
"Our mission of serving local readers and customers is not changing because of this move," Tribune Publisher Sally Brown said. "In fact, we believe it's going to make the South Bend Tribune stronger and allow us to make several improvements.
"The Tribune will still be based locally, with local news and advertising staffs. We are still committed to our print and digital products. And our focus on strong local news coverage and to serving our advertisers remains the same."
The Pittsford, N.Y.-based GateHouse is one of the largest publishers of print and online media in the United States, operating 145 daily publications before the Schurz acquisition. As of Sept. 30, the company operated in more than 550 markets across 37 states. This week's sale adds two more states, Indiana and South Dakota, to GateHouse's footprint.