Can you guess the business that has been serving Ottumwa the longest? Here’s a hint: You’re reading it.

The first Courier was printed Aug. 8, 1848. It started out as a weekly newspaper - one of the first west of the Mississippi river.

Ottumwa was only five years old when that first edition came off the press. The city’s population: 300 residents. In fact, Dahlonega and Eddyville were nearly as large. The population of Wapello County was 2,000.

The Courier became a daily newspaper in 1865 — the year the Civil War ended.

The newspaper was operated by a series of owners until 1890, when A.W. Lee purchased it. At that time, the newspaper had a circulation of 575 copies daily, 1,500 copies weekly.

Lee bought the newspaper with his own savings and with money invested by several prominent residents who believed in his values for community journalism. He believed a newspaper must pursue “a hearty, honest and kindly cooperation with unflagging zeal and a wise appreciation for the rights and interests of all.”

It was a winning formula for newspapering in Ottumwa and beyond. Before Lee’s death in 1907, he had purchased four more newspapers and launched what is Lee Enterprises Inc. The company is now based in Davenport.

The Ottumwa Courier has had 15 homes in Ottumwa. We have been at our present location since February 1921.

Outside, the building remains a classic example of Egyptian architecture. Inside, a lot has changed. The Courier went to offset printing in 1972, with a new addition built to house the new press. In later years, new computer systems were added to streamline the production of the newspaper.

On Sept. 1, 1999, the Courier announced that its owner, Lee Enterprise, had agreed to trade the newspaper and three other publications to Liberty Publishing Group, headquartered in Northbrook, Ill. The announcement was made to Courier employees by Richard D. Gottlieb, president and chief executive officer of Lee.

At the time, Liberty owned over 300 publications. Two years later, Liberty sold The Courier to Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI), based in Birmingham, Ala.

CNHI, formed in 1997, is the parent company for daily, weekly and semiweekly newspapers published in more than 200 communities throughout the United States.

In January, the Courier announced a new redesign of the product.

On Aug. 8, the Courier will observe 158 years of business, and remains the longest, still operating business in Ottumwa.