The Tuscola County Advertiser began publishing on August 21, 1868. The city's oldest surviving business establishment, it was founded by Henry G. Chapin, a native of Conesus, New York. Chapin edited and published the paper for twelve years. The paper began with a circulation of 300, and by 1986 it had reached 14,200 readers. The newspaper has received over seventy Awards of Excellence from the Michigan Press Association and was honored as Michigan's outstanding weekly newspaper by the University of Michigan Press Club in 1983.