Three years ago today, on July 4, 2006, The Cleveland Leader was born. Or actually that should be, re-born. When we launched The Cleveland Leader, our goal was to become the voice of independent local news, providing better coverage than what was already available through the traditional, established media.

In a nod to the past, we decided to call our new venture "The Cleveland Leader", giving homage to the late Cleveland newspaper of the same name which was launched in the mid-19th century and later gobbled up by The Plain Dealer in 1917. 89 years after it's demise, The Cleveland Leader returned to the Cleveland news scene and it hasn't been the same since.

The first big story we broke was in reporting the death of Gerald Levert in 2006, after we received a tip from a regular reader who also happens to a friend of the late singer. After breaking the story, we were bombarded with calls and emails from all around the country. The Cleveland Leader had gone national. Since then we've broken more stories than we can count, and have added to our staff the likes of Cleveland Hall of Fame journalist Roldo Bartimole, and others, who share in our goal to be the best source for Cleveland news.

If you thought the last three years were good, get ready for the next three. As we continue to grow, the future looks even brighter.

While we look forward to the future, here's a look at our past, in pictures.

The Evolution of The Cleveland Leader:

*Click to view larger version of this sneak preview of the new Cleveland Leader - coming soon!