The Midland Tribune first went to print, September 1881, founded by three priests. Raising £1,000.00 to establish the new nationalist newspaper. The foundation of the Midland Tribune was to counter the mighty Unionist newspaper The Kings County Chronicle, later known as the Offaly County Chronicle. The first editor of the Tribune was John St George Joyce a native of New York. John stayed at the helm for 3 years before moving to the Leinster Leader. The two ever present fears for nationalist newspapers were terms of imprisonment or libel. During John’s editorship the paper managed to avoid both however he’s successor John Powell who joined the newspaper 1881 and stayed with the newspaper until he’s death 1901 was in court eight times with libel and intimidation charges.

The Midland Tribune has been successfully published for over 140 years and is still going strong today.

Edition Count	Page Count	Years
		1881 - Current
17,787	131,924