The Prince George Citizen is celebrating its own centennial in 2016 but we're not waiting to start the fun.
Through 2015, the city's centennial year, and 2016, the Citizen's centennial year, we'll be telling many stories about the city's history, the Citizen's history and the individuals who made up both.
But first, we need your help.
The problem is The Citizen's exact birthday has been lost in the sands of time because there is currently no saved copy of the first edition of The Citizen in existence. It is believed to have been published on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 1916, but we honestly don't know for sure. That's where you come in, dear reader. We'd like you to solve The Mystery of the Missing First Edition.
We are hoping there is a fully-intact copy of The Citizen's first edition somewhere, stored in the bottom of a trunk in someone's attic or inside a scrapbook. To the person who can bring in that first edition, so it can be historically preserved and made available online for researchers and history buffs, we offer in return a free lifetime subscription to this newspaper, a bundle of other goodies and a front-page story and photo about you and how you solved The Mystery of the Missing First Edition.
Here's just a few of the stories we'll be delivering to you over the next year or so:
- The City of Prince George stretched its geographical borders and increased its population from 42,000 to 64,000 when it amalgamated the Hart, College Heights, Pineview and South Fort George. Through a series of stories, reporter Charelle Evelyn will look back at how amalgamation changed Prince George.
- As part of the city's 100th anniversary celebrations in July, we'll be featuring some of the most notable citizens of the past century and their contribution to Prince George life. We'll be also be asking for your input in naming a Citizen of the Century for Prince George.
- We'll be sharing stories about longtime Citizen employees who were instrumental in the newspaper's success.
- We'll be featuring some of the most newsworthy moments in both the city and the Citizen's history and recollections from longtime residents.
- There was once a time when delivering newspapers was a rite of passage for young children growing up. We'll be sharing those recollections from seniors and we'll be asking for your help to identify the individuals in some historic photos of Citizen carriers from days gone by and where they might be today.
We'll also be featuring some of the best photographs taken over the years by Citizen photographers and we'll be introducing a special Citizen 100 years masthead this fall.
We're proud to have told Prince George's history for the past 100 years and we're proud to share some of that history with you in the coming months.
- Managing editor Neil Godbout
