Editor's Notebook: Patch Celebrates its 100th Site Launch

You know how it's hard to keep going to the gym when you first start? Results take forever to show. Your abs are still flabby. Your rear still jiggles.

Then you look in the mirror one day after a hard workout and, whoa, who is that? That's how Hopatcong Patch feels right now.

Two years ago, Patch started with just three sites—Maplewood, South Orange and Millburn-Short Hills. Today, we launched site No. 100 in Morristown.

So, we're going to tell you what that means to Hopatcong Patch. Then we'll go off and flex a little bit.

But, first, let's take a quick look at our past.

Patch was born in New York City in 2008 and, after lots of planning and gallons of coffee, opened those first sites in February 2009. In a few months it created a strong buzz as a reliable and innovative hyper-local news service, using real journalists to cover things better than many established outlets.

That's why AOL purchased Patch in June 2009. CEO and Chairman Tim Armstrong saw our vision: to provide communities with around-the-clock coverage, to dig deep into issues affecting you and your neighbors.

So, AOL invested—get this—$50 million into Patch, helping it hire great, highly qualified reporters to cover their towns like oversized blankets. That generous investment has allowed Patch to expand into nine states, publish more than 55,000 articles and display almost 1 million photos.

Hopatcong Patch was site No. 85. You've kept up with us since our July 26 birth, and for that we're thankful.

In the coming months, Patch's family is going to get bigger. We'll be all over the nation, bringing the nuanced local coverage we hope you've enjoyed to millions.

And as our family grows, Hopatcong Patch will only become stronger. We're really getting a feel for what matters most of our residents, from school budget cuts to the state of Hopatcong's youth recreational programs and everything between. And our editorial staff will also continue growing, allowing us to be at multiple places at once.

We're going to keep at it, keep our ears to the streets and our noses on the trails of anything happening in town.

And we hope you're along with us every step of the way.

Thanks for helping us reach No. 100.