<P> In 1878 , Joseph Pulitzer purchased the bankrupt St. Louis Dispatch at a public auction and merged it with the St. Louis Evening Post to create the St. Louis Post and Dispatch , whose title was soon shortened to its current form . He appointed John A. Cockerill as the managing editor . Its first edition , 4,020 copies of four pages each , appeared on December 12 , 1878 . </P>
bought the st louis dispatch and combine it with the st louis post in 1878
Joseph Pulitzer