Interactive Map of U.S. Newspapers, 1690-2011

Click on the  map above to access an interactive map from Stanford University of the annual number of newspapers in the United States from 1690 to 2011.  Here is a timeline of some selected years:

1690: 1 paper

1750: 24 papers

1800: 329

1850: 3,029

1890: 13,489

1900: 15,872

1920: 15,570

1950:13,632

2000: 13,690

2010: 13,670

Note that the "golden age" of newspapers was the period from about 1850 to 1890 when the number of papers increased more than four-fold from about 3,000 to 13,489, which about the same number of papers as today (13,670).

HT: Stephen Dubner at the Freakonomics blog.