Happy 150th birthday, Butler Eagle.

The newspaper has told your stories, recorded your children’s achievements, announced new businesses and boiled down countless municipal meetings for readers for 150 years. We still do.

We’ve been there for the good times — celebrating Butler County’s bicentennial — and the tough times — mourning with the community when a tornado in 1985 tore through the southern portion of the county, killing six people, injuring others and destroying homes.

What started as a four-page weekly by Civil War veterans has evolved into a multimedia news-gathering organization that has kept its community focus and roots.

Inside today’s anniversary publication, the Eagle celebrates its first edition, which rolled off the presses March 2, 1870; the people who produce and deliver the news and the cutting-edge technology that has continued to lead the newspaper into the future.

Outlined are more than just the Eagle’s history entwined with the history of Butler County. Community leaders voice their support of the Eagle, citing the ever-growing importance of a community newspaper telling your stories for the next 150 years.