Stair, Edward Douglas

(1859-1951)

   E. D. Stair began working as a printer in his hometown, Morenci, Michigan. He moved into editing and publishing newspapers and always maintained involvement in journalism—including ownership of the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit Journal—even as he achieved success in theatre management at Detroit's Whitney Theatre beginning in 1892. His partnership with John H. Havlin, known as Stair and Havlin, built a circuit of melodrama theatres, which expanded to become the United States Amusement Company, which encompassed theatres they built in Canada. Stair devoted some of his wealth to building an auditorium in Morenci.