Timeline: A history of City & State through the years

City & State has grown a lot in the two decades since founder Tom Allon launched a publication focused on New York City politics, policy and personality. Here are some key highlights of the company’s history from the past 20 years.

2001 – Tom Allon forms Manhattan Media

City & State’s history begins in 2006, but the story actually begins five years earlier when Tom Allon – the publisher and editor-in-chief of a group of Manhattan weeklies owned by a regional newspaper chain – worked with private equity investors to buy out the chain’s Manhattan media division and form a new company, aptly titled Manhattan Media. Allon also made plans to launch a new publication focused on city politics, which was set to launch in October 2001 – only to be scuttled after the 9/11 attacks.

2006 – City Hall launches as a monthly publication covering New York City politics

Five years after that aborted launch, Allon created City Hall, a monthly publication with an obsessive focus on city politics. It was modeled as a New York City version of The Hill, the political newspaper for Washington, D.C., insiders that Allon had helped create in 1994.

2007 – The Capitol launches as a monthly magazine covering Albany politics

Shortly after City Hall launched, Andrew Cuomo – then running for state attorney general – visited Allon’s office for an editorial board interview. As Allon remembers it, Cuomo spotted a copy of City Hall on his desk and told him that he should think about launching a sister publication to cover Albany, which is where the real money is in politics. (He was right!)

2011 – City Hall and The Capitol merge to form City & State

What’s better than two monthly politics publications? One twice-monthly politics publication! Given the significant overlap in readership, Allon decided to combine City Hall and The Capitol. Taking inspiration from peers like Politico and The Atlantic, the newly christened City & State launched First Read, an email newsletter that quickly becomes indispensable to New York’s political class, and a live events business.

2013 – Tom Allon acquires City & State from Manhattan Media

While running for New York City mayor, Allon learned that the private equity investors in Manhattan Media wanted to sell off City & State, and a competitor was seriously interested in buying it. He teamed up with an old associate, Steve Farbman, to purchase the publication himself, but there was a catch – he had to drop out of the mayoral race. So he gave up on his City Hall dreams to run the newly independent City & State.

2014 – City & State acquires New York Nonprofit Media

City government relies on nonprofits to actually deliver services, so it was an easy decision for City & State to acquire the well-respected industry publication New York Nonprofit Press and relaunch it as New York Nonprofit Media.

2016 – City & State expands to Pennsylvania

City & State took the Amtrak south to acquire The Philadelphia Public Record and launch the City & State Pennsylvania magazine, bringing the City & State model to a swing state that wasn’t too far from its headquarters in New York City.

2021 – GovExec acquires City & State

The COVID-19 pandemic hit many media businesses hard, and City & State was no exception, as the suspension of in-person events cost the business about 20% of its annual revenue. City & State even sold The Philadelphia Public Record and City & State Pennsylvania. The company also found a buyer for itself in Government Executive Media Group, a media, data and research company with a stable of niche policy-focused Washington, D.C., publications that was looking to grow its state political coverage. And a few months after GovExec acquired City & State, it bought back and relaunched City & State Pennsylvania.

2022 – City & State expands to Florida

City & State headed down south after GovExec acquired the News Service of Florida, a paid newswire, enabling expansion to yet another state: Florida.