Geoff Larcom has covered several news including sports, written columns at the Ann Arbor News. His final assignment is the newspaper’s last issue after 174 years.

The only newspaper in this town will be hitting the presses one last time on Thursday and going out of business. This is going to be replaced by AnnArbor.com, an online news that will be available in print two times a week, every Thursday and Sunday.

Larcom, 51, said that the opening paragraphs will most likely be, “This will be our last edition. Farewell Ann Arbor. Hugs all around.”

Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, with an educated population and stable economy. But the newspaper, like other newspapers has been losing money as advertisers leave one by one and the readers resort to reading online. In Seattle and Denver, the daily papers have also closed during the year and others have decreased their print editions.

Craiglist.com has been getting the classified ads that would normally appear on the newspaper’s classified ads section.

“The seven-day-a-week print model just is not sustainable here,” said news publisher Laurel Champion. “We have very low home ownership. The population is transient and young. Those demographics have worked against us.”

Wednesday’s paper was only 20 pages which was promoting AnnArbor.com, the new media company created by News owner Advance Publications.

According to Champion, more than a dozen employees have been hired at AnnArbor.com. There were 272 employees at the office and printing plant when the paper announced that it was closing.

“There’s a camaraderie in a newsroom that’s very special,” Ed Petykiewicz said. He was an editor since 1988 and announced his retirement three days before the News said that it was closing. Even though other managers have departed and he planned to leave before Thursday as well, Ed decided to stay through the end.

Find an Ann Arbor News, Publication in the Directory of Ann Arbor, MI.