The first edition of Anacortes's hometown paper was printed on May 15, 1890, by Douglas Allmond and F.H. Boynton who had arrived in April 1890 with two railroad cars and set up at 10th Street and M Avenue. Allmond took over as sole publisher after August 12, 1892, when Boynton withdrew. In 1905, the American purchased and absorbed the Anacortes Sentinel, which had been established in 1903 “as a Republican paper.”

You can view old issues of the Anacortes American at the Secretary of State's Washington Digital Newspapers archive or through the Anacortes Museum's website.