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Started all those years ago by a group of community minded individuals who took it upon themselves to create what they aimed to be a community oriented newspaper that would serve as a chronicle of the events and people in the small towns it would cover, the paper was first produced in a vacant classroom in Chesaning's former Line Street Elementary School building. Production of the free circulation paper was led by founding partners/owners Daniel Lea and Bill Sloat.

The publication was given the name Tri-County Citizen to recognize that it would cover parts of Saginaw, Shiawassee, and Genesee counties.

Main focus of the paper was the Montrose, New Lothrop, Chesaning, and St. Charles areas and school districts, a central area lost at the outskirts of, and vastly uncovered by, the major daily papers surrounding it.

At the time there were a number of other publications in that area, however, most were shoppers filled almost completely with advertisements, providing only a smattering of news that had been sent in by readers. The newly formed Citizen aimed to provide complete weekly news coverage for the areas named and the free circulation format would combine the readership advantage of subscriber papers with the circulation numbers of a shopper.

The goal of those producing the publication was to provide news of general interest to the communities they served by offering them timely, well packaged, local news and photographs that would give them a sense of identity that is always lacking in areas where newspapers do not exist, and to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information for area readers, along with a cost effective medium for area businesses to reach residents with their goods and services. That first edition was a puny 12 pages and circulated to approximately 8,000 homes and was produced by a staff of three people. Over the years the Citizen has seen many, many changes and has grown immensely, becoming Saginaw Counties largest weekly circulation newspaper circulating to over 19,000 homes each Sunday. Shortly after its inception, the paper was moved to its own facility at 9998 Peet Road (M-57), in Chesaning, where it is still located today. The Citizen did not have an on-site press and pages were transported to Midstate Printing in Ithaca for printing of the paper. After owning and operating the paper for 18 years, Lea sold it in 2001 to 21st Century Newspapers. The paper was sold again four years ago to Journal Register Company (JRC), which continues to own and operate it today. Pages are now sent to the JRC press in Mt. Pleasant where the paper is printed. Like other papers, today the Citizen is far from the ways it was produced in what are considered the old days where typewriters, photo typesetting machines, and dark rooms were the tools used to create it. Paste up is also now a thing of the past. Technology has greatly affected the way a paper is produced with writing, photography, ad design, and page layout all being completely computerized and pages being sent to the press in Mt Pleasant via the Internet. And in addition to the printed version, the paper can also now be accessed through websites. However, amidst the many changes that have taken place, one thing has remained constant, the Citizen is still a free circulation weekly paper just as it was all those years ago, meaning that it is brought free to its readers being paid for completely by the dollars of those who purchase advertisements. A fact that, in this day and age of budget woes and business shortages and cutbacks, speaks volumes to the commitment area businesses and the Citizen itself have to their communities. The fact that the Citizen has supported, and had been supported by area businesses for 25 years is a remarkable feat. So as the Tri-County Citizen begins its next quarter-century of serving its local communities with the start of its 26th year in business in 2008, readers need to be sure to continue to give their loyal support to the businesses who advertise on its pages to ensure that the tradition of hometown newspapering in this area can continue. And while the Citizen cannot, and has never tried to, compete with daily newspapers in the area of hard news or breaking news coverage, it does fill a unique niche and serve a valuable purpose. The many staff members who have passed through doors of the Citizen over the years have labored to accomplish that original goal set forth by its founders of writing the stories of the lives of the people and events within its communities. While no one newspaper can ever cover everything, and mistakes are always part of the process, the Citizen has, for the past 25 years, in its more than 1,300 issues covered a broad array of, and provided thousands and thousands of pictures and stories of, what have been the most significant and interesting happenings in this area, capturing the moments and events that have defined the very communities its serves and the lives of the people who live in them.

The Citizen has served as a historic chronicle for the events that were shaping these communities recognizing the spirit and pride of the people who live here, and has passed on a plethora of important community information of value to the general public including fundraisers, meetings, governmental issues, births, deaths, engagements, weddings, graduations, business news-openings-closings, human interest stories; and of coarse, its forte, local sports coverage; and lastly, its most important service, advertising for area businesses. Over the years the Citizen has been honored numerous times by the Michigan Press Association for journalistic excellence in local community coverage, educational coverage, and sports coverage, along with advertising design, and was also honored over a dozen times with the prestigious School Bell award and has been recognized by the local districts it serves and by the Michigan Association of School boards. JRC owns and operates 22 daily newspapers, with approximately 559,000 total daily circulation, including the New Haven Register, Connecticut's second largest daily and Sunday newspaper. The company also owns 346 non-daily publications, with total distribution of more that 6 million, as well as commercial printing and software development companies. Coverage areas include Michigan, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Ohio, and New York. The company's operations are strategically clustered in six geographic areas, Greater Philadelphia, Michigan, Connecticut, Greater Cleveland, and the Capital-Saratoga and Mid-Hudson regions of New York. The company also has 227 individual Web sites featuring the company's daily and non-daily newspaper groups. The Tri-County Citizen website can be found at www.tricountycitizen.com and the JRC website can be found at www.journalregister.com JRC is committed to being the leading provider of local information in print and online in the markets it serves and to provide a vibrant and responsive medium for its readers and advertisers.