Celebrating 55 Years of the Community Reporter
Depending on how you measure, any one of those dates is the birth of the Community Reporter.
On March 1, 1970, the first issue of the West 7th Street Association was printed. The predecessor to both the “Community Reporter” and the West 7th/Fort Road Federation, this was a monthly printed newsletter published from March 1970 to June 1971.
On September 8, 1970, the first edition of the West 7th news, a newsletter of the West 7th Community Center was published. They produced four issues until December 1970.
Then, on July 1, 1971, the first edition of the Community Reporter was published.
Neal Gosman, one of the original architects of the paper wrote back in 2021 for our 50th anniversary, “One little seed I planted was a primitive, hand done, typewritten community newsletter then called W7th News. After I left for military service in 1971, the effort was picked up by Kathy Vadnais and others and remade into the newsprint paper you hold in your hands.”
The “Community Reporter” was born out of a need to communicate all of the things happening in the West 7th Neighborhood in the 70s, and that need hasn’t changed. In fact, it has only increased – and not just in West 7th. While other community newspapers have come and gone through the years, we’ve persevered, and continue to thrive.
We celebrated our 50th anniversary in the pages of our paper (which you can read at communityreporter.org/tag/community-reporter), but weren’t able to celebrate in person because of the ongoing pandemic.
Now, as we either close out or begin our 55th year, depending on how you measure, we want to celebrate with you, our community who has supported us all along the way.
Support our mission
We are looking to raise $5,500 this year for our 55th anniversary. As a nonprofit news organization, your tax-deductible donations help us sustain our mission to bring you the news impacting our community.
Small donations make a big impact: if 1% of our readers donated $3.00/month, we could produce an entire issue without putting additional burden on our small business partners, who support us all year long through their advertising.
You can donate online at communityreporter.org/donate.
Mail your donation to Community Reporter, 265 Oneida St. St. Paul, MN 55102.
