Paul Allen Holmes Manuscript Collection- Oak Park Public Library

Paul Allen Holmes was born in Milton, Wisconsin in 1902. He received degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Marquette University Law School and passed the bar in Wisconsin in 1927.

Holmes served as executive editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel, and later became editor-in-chief for the Milwaukee Post. He joined the Chicago Tribune in 1941, where he covered criminal trials.

Holmes lived Oak Park from 1959-1966. As a parent of children attending school in the village, Holmes took an interest in the school system. He served as a member of the Oak Park Elementary school board from 1963-1966. His time on the board was controversial as he opposed the idea of building junior high schools in Oak Park.

Holmes gained national attention when he covered the murder trial of Dr. Sam Sheppard in 1954. This coverage was later published into The Sheppard Murder Case in 1961. In 1964, Holmes published another book on the Sheppard case entitled My Brother’s Keeper with the help of Sam’s brother Stephen Sheppard. Holmes published a third book about the Sheppard case in 1967 called Retrial-Murder and Dr. Sam Sheppard.

After twenty-five years at the Chicago Tribune, Holmes retired from newspaper reporting and moved with his family to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, working as a freelance writer. He died in January 1985 at the age of 83.