Staff, former staff, contributors and advertisers of the Horowhenua Chronicle celebrated the paper's 125 year history at Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-po on Thursday night.

"One hundred and twenty-five years is a remarkable achievement everyone connected to the newspaper can be truly proud of," said Vicki Timpson, general manager of NZME Lower North Island regions.

"From humble beginnings and the amalgamation of various papers and names, the Horowhenua Chronicle has grown and prospered to become a multi-award winning newspaper. Credit for the paper's original creation goes to William Charles Nation and his son in 1893.

"They started publishing the four-page Manawatu Farmer and the Horowhenua County Chronicle, with the first issue published on October 9 in 1893. In October 1999, the Chronicle became the first daily in New Zealand to become a tabloid newspaper, and the Saturday edition was particularly popular with readers who liked the compact size.

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"In 2001 the company became part of APN News & Media.

"Now the Horowhenua Chronicle is part of NZME, the country's leading media company that is the result of bringing together APN NZ, The Radio Network and Grabone.

"The business is an organisation with a portfolio of radio, digital, e-commerce and print brands producing fantastic content targeted to NZ audiences.

"The network reaches 3.2 million Kiwis, whether reading, listening or watching, who get the content they want when they want across, digital, print, radio and on-demand platforms.

"The Chronicle is proud to be part of this new era of news and content creation, and hosts its own lively social media platforms and website as well as continuing to publish two quality editions a week on Wednesday and Friday from its Bristol St premises, where it has been since 1990.

"The national archives currently has digitised copies of the Chronicle available up until 1949 on Papers Past. The local historic society aim to continue digitising any physical copies we have to preserve our history."

Last Friday's edition of the Horowhenua Chronicle paid homage to those 125 years, adopting the typical 1893 look.