The paper officially closed on April 20.

The publisher, Dan Medow, told media outlets that the slumping economy took a toll on advertisers and subsequently, advertising revenue for the newspaper. Medow took over publication of The Citizen two years ago. The paper was originally owned by the Joseph Kargol family, who owned it until 2002.

That’s when Mike Wilcox of Wilcox Enterprizes purchased the paper. He owned it for five years.

Wilcox also publishes The Clare County Review in upstate Michigan. Wilcox has returned to Hamtramck and launched a new community weekly newspaper here called The Hamtramck Review.

The Citizen’s closing occurred at a time when many newspapers locally and nationally are abruptly shutting down. Readership and advertising revenue for newspapers has been declining for decades.

The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News now only offer home delivery three days a week. Most readers now go to the Internet to get their local news, where it is available for free.

Analysts say the Internet has deeply eroded what readership has remained of traditional hard copy versions of newspapers.

In the past year The Citizen had created a website, which is still online at hamtramckcitizen.com. Whether anyone purchases the name of The Citizen and attempts to resurrect the paper remains to be seen.