This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, Doonesbury, Garfield, Cathy, FoxTrot and Peanuts are all syndicated out of a building on Walnut Street in downtown Kansas City. Jim Andrews and John McMeel founded Universal Press Syndicate in 1970 — Andrews working from his house in Kansas City, McMeel from a fifth-floor walk-up over a Manhattan bar — and picked the name because it sounded larger than they were. In 1975 McMeel moved his family to Kansas City and consolidated everything here. The company is now Andrews McMeel Universal, still privately held, still on Walnut Street, and it is one of the most culturally consequential businesses the city has.

Description

Andrews McMeel Universal is a privately held media company at 1130 Walnut Street in downtown Kansas City, operating across five divisions: syndication, book and calendar publishing, digital, entertainment and licensing.1

Its significance is disproportionate to its visibility. Universal Press Syndicate — the company’s founding business and still its core — has distributed a very large share of the most widely read comic strips and columns in the English-speaking world: Doonesbury from 1974, Cathy and For Better or For Worse from 1976, The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes both from 1985, FoxTrot from 1988, Dilbert and Garfield by 1996, and Peanuts acquired in the 2010s.1 For roughly two generations, the comics page of an American newspaper was in substantial part a Kansas City product.

The publishing arm, Andrews McMeel Publishing, began in 1973 when the syndicate bought Sheed & Ward, the religious publisher Jim Andrews had previously worked for, in order to get into books.2 It grew into a major publisher of humor, calendars, gift books and — more recently — poetry, along with greeting cards.1

The digital arm runs GoComics and UExpress. GoComics began life in 2001 as MyComicsPage and is now the principal way most readers encounter the company’s strips.1

This is a corporate headquarters rather than a visitable storefront, and it is in the Registry on the strength of local ownership, 56 years of Kansas City tenure, and cultural weight. See the category note below.

Goods and services

  • Newspaper and digital syndication of comic strips, editorial cartoons and columns1
  • Book publishing — humor, gift books, poetry, and general trade1
  • Calendar publishing1
  • Greeting cards1
  • GoComics — digital comics platform, created 2001 as MyComicsPage1
  • UExpress — digital columns platform1
  • Entertainment and licensing divisions1

History

Jim Andrews and John McMeel founded Universal Press Syndicate in 1970 — in the company’s own words, “In 1970, Jim and John joined forces to act on their long-held dream of establishing their own media enterprise.”1 They chose the name because it sounded large and impressive, which it was not: McMeel rented a fifth-floor walk-up office above a bar in Manhattan, and Andrews worked from his home in Kansas City.2

Ziggy launched in 1971. In 1973 the syndicate bought Sheed & Ward, the religious publisher Andrews had worked for, as a way into book publishing; it was eventually renamed Andrews and McMeel and published mostly humor books by the syndicate’s own cartoonists and columnists.12 Doonesbury launched in 1974.1

In 1975 McMeel shut the New York office and moved with his family to Kansas City, consolidating all of the company’s operations there.2 That decision is why the company is a Kansas City business rather than a New York one.

The strips that followed defined the American comics page: Cathy and For Better or For Worse in 1976; The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes in 1985; FoxTrot in 1988; Dilbert and Garfield by 1996.1 The corporate identity Andrews McMeel Universal was adopted to reflect the diversification — the company’s own timeline dates this to 1999, while secondary corporate histories give 1997.12

MyComicsPage, now GoComics, was created in 2001.1 Peanuts was acquired and The Oatmeal published during the 2010s.1 The company marked its 50th anniversary in 2020.1

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Andrews McMeel Universal — official “Timeline” page — asserts: founded 1970 by Jim Andrews and John McMeel; “In 1970, Jim and John joined forces to act on their long-held dream of establishing their own media enterprise.”; 1970 Universal Press Syndicate founded; 1971 Ziggy; 1973 Andrews McMeel Publishing established; 1974 Doonesbury; 1976 Cathy and For Better or For Worse; 1985 The Far Side syndicated and Calvin and Hobbes launched; 1988 FoxTrot; 1996 Dilbert published and Garfield joined UPS; 1999 Andrews McMeel Universal established as the corporate identity; 2001 MyComicsPage (now GoComics) created; 2010s Peanuts acquired and The Oatmeal published; 2020 fiftieth anniversary; headquarters 1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106; divisions comprising Syndication, Publishing, Digital (GoComics, UExpress), Entertainment and Licensing. Primary first-party source. Note it does not state current leadership or ownership. (Fetched 2026-08-14.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19

  2. FundingUniverse — “History of Andrews McMeel Universal” — asserts: the company was founded in 1970 by Jim Andrews and John McMeel as Universal Press Syndicate and renamed in 1997 to reflect its diversification; it is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri; in 1970 McMeel and Andrews quit their other jobs and incorporated Universal Press Syndicate, choosing the name because it sounded large and impressive; McMeel rented a fifth-floor walk-up office above a bar in Manhattan while Andrews worked from his home in Kansas City; in 1973 Universal Press Syndicate bought Sheed & Ward, the religious publisher Andrews had worked for, to get into book publishing, and the publisher was eventually renamed Andrews and McMeel, printing mostly humor books by the syndicate’s cartoonists and columnists; in 1975 McMeel shut the New York office and moved with his family to Kansas City, consolidating all operations there. Parallel copies of the same corporate history are carried at referenceforbusiness.com and company-histories.com — these are one source syndicated three ways, not three sources, and are counted as one here. (Content accessed via search-surfaced summary — see method note.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/andrews-mcmeel-universal · record updated 2026-08-14