The names William Lowry and John Miller might not mean much to you today, but there is a direct line between what they started on June 7, 1806, and the newspaper you hold in your hand (or are reading on a computer or mobile device) today.

That was the day Lowry and Miller published the first edition of their newspaper, the Western Herald, from a small house on North Third Street in Steubenville. After surviving several mergers and changes in ownership, the Western Herald became the Herald-Star in the late 1890s.

Our history is as rich as the history of the Tri-State Area. When the two publishing entrepreneurs launched their newspaper, Ohio had been a state for just a few years, and the creation of West Virginia was more than 50 years away.

The Western Herald of 1806 covered events in what was then the Western frontier of the United States, a country which itself was less than a month from turning 30.

During the next 218 years, the paper would become one of the most influential publications in our region. Through it all, through the many changes in owners and publishers, through the many editors and countless reporters, writers, production personnel, salespeople, composing room workers, pressmen, photographers, office workers and distribution personnel, the news has always made it from downtown Steubenville to your hands.

The technology has changed, but the newspaper has survived, in many different formats and designs, because of, and sometimes in spite of, its employees. The Herald-Star is not about any one of us who has proudly served, yet it’s about all of us, connected by a dedication to the communities in which we live. The paper is simply bigger than any of us individually has been for more than 200 years.

It is an institution, a vital part of daily life in our area.

We have spent that time standing up for the freedoms that journalists must enjoy to preserve freedom in our nation, to ensure that voters are properly informed before they head to the polls, to be sure that government isn’t running roughshod over people who support it — or, more important, oppose it — or that people aren’t ignoring the rules and laws of the community and society in which we live.

For more than 200 years, residents of the Tri-State Area have been enlightened and entertained; have been made to laugh and to cry; have been able to see what their friends and neighbors are up to; and have been motivated to step up and bring change to their communities.

We’ve been there to record the milestones of the lives of millions of people. We’ve helped share the good news, including the birth of children, high school and college graduations, marriages and anniversaries, new businesses that have opened and promotions that have been achieved. Sadly, we also have chronicled the sad events in many lives, including deaths.

The Herald-Star and its predecessors have helped shape Steubenville, watching as it grew and changed, standing guard as it experienced the ebb and flow that has come with advances in technology.

We’ve been able to do that because you, the residents of our region, have placed your trust in us to report the news of the day accurately and fairly.

Today, we mark our 219th birthday as a continuously published newspaper, certainly one of Ohio’s — and the nation’s — oldest.

We ask that you celebrate with us, celebrate our existence as well as yourselves, the readers who make up the communities and live the lives we find interesting enough to write about, to learn about, to laugh about, to be entertained by and are motivated to preserve.