The first issue (Vol.1/ No. 1) of the Longmeadow News was published on August 20, 1969 and the last issue was published on February 20, 2020- a legacy of 50+ years of publication.
 | ||
| Vol. 1, No. 1- August 20, 1969 |
The Longmeadow News was first published in East Longmeadow, MA and then moved to Westfield, MA. The community newspaper initially focused upon the "News of the Longmeadows" including both Longmeadow and East Longmeadow but later moved to primarily report the community news for the town of Longmeadow.
With the arrival of the Internet in the late 1990's and social media including Facebook shortly thereafter, the fortunes of this weekly newspaper slowly diminished while still fulfilling its mission of reporting local news. Wedding/ birth announcements, obituaries, local event coverage, community calendar, letters to the editor, etc. were only a portion of the content that could be found in each weekly edition. Local advertisers and mail subscriptions provided a revenue source to pay for its publication and the salaries of a few dedicated reporters.
Here are few of the business ads that appeared in the early editions of the Longmeadow News- all of which are no longer in business.
Storrs Library has initiated a project with Digital Commonwealth/ Boston Public Library to digitally scan the 50+ years of the Longmeadow News. The project is still underway but when it is completed, people will be able to conduct online full text searches to find articles of local interest.
Our family was a 35+ year mail subscriber of the Longmeadow News and we welcomed each issue as a source of what was happening in our town. We miss the many articles, letters to the editor and other features made possible by dedicated reporters including most recently Dale Oleksak, Hope Tremblay, Jeff Hanouille and Chris Maza.
~Guest column written by Jim Moran