On September 26, 1995, husband and wife team David Jacobs and Gen Tracy launched their first newspaper, The Back Bay Courant. 30 years later, the couple is still publishing and continuing to eschew the web for printer’s ink.

“Three decades ago, Back Bay did not have a neighborhood newspaper, so we started one,” Jacobs noted.

“We joked that if we failed, we would move to a deserted island in the South Pacific”.

The newspaper was cash positive after its third issue. Residents wanted local news and advertisers needed a vehicle to reach nearby customers.

“Over time. stakeholders in other neighborhoods asked us to cover their local news. Beacon Hill was followed by the Fenway and then the South End”, according to Tracy. Around 1998, the name was changed to The Boston Courant to reflect he newspaper’s expanded coverage.

In 2016, retirement beckoned, and the newspaper closed.

“After four days in Frorida, Gen turned to me, said she was bored and to call Jet Blue for a flight back to Boston”, Jacobs recalled.

“Former readers and advertisers asked us to return to publishing. We decided to start fresh and launched The Boston Guardian.”

What has changed in 30 years? “Obvious, the internet and newspaper websites”, Tracy stated. “We may be the only newspaper in the country without one. Then again, unlike most of our peers, we’re profitable and looking to expand”.

“It’s more than a little sobering to realized that we’ve been in business longer than most reporters and press secretaries have been alive”, Jacobs mused. “Messaging, blogging and click bait now seem more important than accurate, objective reporting. I guess we’re Luddites who still believe in the fundamentals of thinking and writing and having an institutional memory”.

“In terms of stories, not that much has changed”, according to Tracy. “Housing affordability is an ongoing issue. We have an inhouse joke that the superrich are starting to force out the rich in many downtown neighborhoods.”

“Quality of life issues never change whether they be traffic, trash pickup, development, public safety, underperforming public schools.”

“Welcome to Boston”, Jacobs joked. Will there be a 60 th anniversary? The Boston Guardian’s investigative reporters are searching for Ponce de Leon and his Fountain of Youth.