Press-Citizen

The Press-Citizen is the marriage of two newspapers.

The Press-Citizen is the marriage of two newspapers — the Iowa State Press was founded in 1860 as a Democratic newspaper and the Iowa City Citizen, a weekly Republican newspaper first published in 1891. The two papers merged in 1920 for economic reasons and in 1921, the paper was purchased by Merritt C. Speidel, who was president and publisher until 1937, when he moved to California to establish the Speidel offices. Bill Hageboeck took charge of the daily operations while Speidel remained president and publisher until 1942 when Hageboeck assumed both roles. Hageboeck retired in 1961, succeeded by Jack Liechty, a former circulation manager at the paper. In 1966, Liechty was named secretary and general manager of the Speidel Newspapers Inc. in Reno, Nev., and Kenneth Greene was named president and publisher.