William Penn Nixon, Sr., (1832 – February 20, 1912) was an American publisher and politician from Indiana.

Following an extensive private education, Nixon graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and became involved in Ohio politics.

He served one partial and one full term in the Ohio House of Representatives, then retired from elected politics.

He descended from plantation owners and his father Samuel ran a successful business transporting goods across the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.

While in these positions, Nixon purchased the competing Cincinnati Evening Times and merged the papers.

Although his position as leader of a Republican paper made him one of the most prominent party members in the city, Nixon declined to run for elected office.

Elizabeth Nixon served on the board of trustees of the Illinois Training School for Nurses.

[1] His son became a traveling salesman for Marshall Field & Co. Nixon died of a heart attack at his Chicago house on February 20, 1912.