Press-Citizen History

The story of a great newspaper

The Press-Citizen is a marriage of two newspapers. The "Press" in Press-Citizen came from the Iowa State Press which was established in 1860 as a Democratic newspaper. The "Citizen" title comes from the Iowa City Citizen, a weekly Republican paper first published in 1891.

The two papers merged in 1920 for economic reasons, and the following year, the paper was bought by Merritt C. Speidel. He was president and publisher until 1937, when he moved to Palo Alto, California to establish the Speidel offices. Bill Hageboeck took charge of the day-to-day operations, although Speidel retained the title of president and publisher until 1942 when Hageboeck assumed both titles.

Hageboeck retired in 1961 and was succeeded by Jack Liechty, then circulation manager, who became president and publisher. In 1966 Liechty was named secretary and general manager of the Speidel Newspapers Inc. in Reno, Nevada. Kenneth Greene succeeded Liechty in 1972. He had previously worked as the advertising director. Greene died unexpectedly in 1973.

Others who have served as president and publisher include J.C. Hickman (1973-87), Mary Parks Stier (1987-1991), Dionicio (Don) Flores (1991-1993) and Chuck Wanninger (1993-2000)

Today, Mike Beck is president and publisher. He came to the Press-Citizen in 1995 as the managing editor and was promoted to executive editor in 2000. He was named president and publisher in November 2000.

The Press-Citizen building at 319 E. Washington Street was dedicated in 1937 and at the time housed one of the most modern newspaper plants in the country. The paper moved to its present location at 1725 N. Dodge St. on Jan. 21, 1991. In 1976, the Speidel Board of Directors voted to merge with Gannett Co., a move that was subsequently approved by stockholders and became effective May 12, 1977.

The Press-Citizen converted to offset printing on Oct. 15, 1990, and on September 15, 1997, switched from afternoon to a morning newspaper.

Our Sunday product in conjunction with the Des Moines Sunday Register, called the Sunday Package, first went to press Aug. 29, 1999. This product serves as a Johnson County edition of the Des Moines Sunday Register, allowing us to give our readers "the Best of Iowa and the Best of Iowa City."

The Press-Citizen employs about 150 people.