This business information company was founded by Gustavus D. Crain, Jr., who moved it in 1916 from Louisville to Chicago. He immediately started Class (now BtoB ) and Hospital Management. In 1930, when the company's name became Advertising Publications Inc., it launched Advertising Age; by the late 1940s, this publication had a circulation of over 20,000. In 1969, the company changed its name to Crain Communications Inc., which continued to be operated by the Crain family. A new publication, Crain's Chicago Business, was launched in 1978; similar newspapers covering local business events were soon introduced in other cities, including Detroit, Cleveland, New York, and Mexico City. By the 1990s, when it was moving into electronic publishing, Crain's had close to $250 million in annual revenues, published 30 titles, and employed about 250 people in the Chicago area and another 750 people worldwide.

This entry is part of the Encyclopedia's Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000) that was prepared by Mark R. Wilson, with additional contributions from Stephen R. Porter and Janice L. Reiff.