When called Greater Wilmington Business (“Journal” would be added later), this publication launched 20 years ago with a front page story about the “Last Commercial Frontier” on the development around Military Cutoff.

Quoting from the story:

“As a result of increased public pressure to slow growth and preserve green space, public officials have been challenged to find ways to improve the quality of life in Wilmington. Military Cutoff provides a relatively blank slate on which this challenge will be played out.

“‘What everyone wants,’ says City Planning Manager Wayne Clark, ‘is to avoid creating another College Road.’”

Managing growth. Traffic. Jobs. Quality of Life.

The topics seemingly stay the same, yet our community has clearly changed since the first pages of Greater Wilmington Business rolled off the press in 2000.

To mark this anniversary, the Business Journal will take on a project throughout this year to look at what’s happened in our community in the past 20 years, what we want our community to become by 2040 and how we get there.

Through stories on a range of topics, opinion pieces, large events and smaller discussion groups, the Business Journal will seek to cover and engage the community on where we’ve come from and where we’re going.

Hopefully you’ll come along for the ride through the past, present and future as a reader, by attending events and contributing your views.

Learn more by following the link below.

• Looking back, finding gaps and reaching for a summit