The Stoughton Courier Hub, WI

For well over a century, the award-winning Stoughton Courier Hub has been the dominant news medium serving the Stoughton area. The origins of the paper date back to the latter half of the 19th century, when an influx of Norwegian immigrants earned Stoughton (population 12,911) the nickname of "The Lutefisk Capital of America." It is named for pioneer Luke Stoughton, whose house has been restored by the Stoughton Historical Society.

The newspaper is the result of a 1909 merger of two predecessors: The Courier, first printed in 1872, and the aptly named Hub, founded in 1881 by Norwegian immigrant and wagon company founder Targe Mandt, whose influence continues today with trailer manufacturing one of its dominant industries.

Stoughton Newspapers was acquired from John Lebeck and Dick Anderson in 1993 by Woodward Communications, Inc., a Dubuque, Iowa-based employee-owned (ESOP) media company comprising mass and niche media products, as well as niche marketing ad communication services.

In 1993, John Lebeck and Dick Anderson sold Stoughton Newspapers to Woodward Communications, Inc., based in Dubuque, Iowa, which combined its operations in 1998 into Unified Newspaper Group, which also published the Fitchburg Star, Oregon Observer, Verona Press, Your Family magazine and the Great Dane shopper. In 2021, O'Rourke Media Group purchased UNG, adding to its Wisconsin Media Group publications based in Kiel.