Anacortes was a city of great promise when Douglass Allmond and Frederick H. Boynton established the Anacortes American in 1890. The town’s founders envisioned Anacortes becoming the New York City of the West as the terminus of an anticipated railroad.
The first edition of the American was published on May 15, 1890, delivering eight pages of news, stories and advertisements every Thursday to the people of Anacortes and Skagit County. In its initial issue, the American proclaimed its purpose was “To publish an honest, independent, aggressive newspaper that shall tell the story of our marvelous city and its surroundings.”
The Anacortes American was made the official newspaper of Skagit County in 1891, and soon acquired the title of official newspaper of Anacortes.
The town founders’ dreams for Anacortes were derailed, however, by the economic depression of 1893-97. Anacortes was not selected as the railroad terminus. The local real estate market crashed. Businesses closed and many residents left in search of opportunities elsewhere, some walking away from their mortgages.
Boynton left the newspaper by 1893, leaving Allmond as the sole publisher of the now Republican Anacortes American. Allmond sold the American in 1907 to move on to other ventures — he founded Anacortes’ first public water and power utility. Allmond’s successor, James Morton Post, invested in new equipment and, in 1913, constructed the building out of which the Anacortes American still operates. Although the city’s New York-of-the-West aspirations proved unfulfilled, Post declared Anacortes the “Gloucester of the Pacific” on the front pages of the American.
In 1930, after 23 years at the helm of the American, Post sold the newspaper to Vernon McKenzie and Carl A. Sandquist. In his first editorial, Sandquist assured the American’s readership that the newspaper would stay true to its initial objective of producing news of, by, and for the community of Anacortes.
During McKenzie and Sandquist’s time managing the American, the Great Depression hit, greatly affecting the economy of Anacortes and causing more local businesses to fail. The pair ran the newspaper as best as they could throughout these difficult years. They sold the American in 1939 to Cornelius Root, but he proved to be a relatively indifferent and absent publisher during his decade of tenure.
Wallie Funk and John Webber bought the American in 1950 from Root, reviving the newspaper and focusing heavily on its role as a voice of and for the Anacortes community. During this period, the economy of Anacortes shifted; the lumber industry was replaced as a leading employer by gas and oil companies that established up refineries on March’s Point. Funk, a native of Anacortes and descendant of one of the city’s founders, used the American to champion the community and engage in projects designed to improve the infrastructure and quality of life of the city.
A competitor to the American, the Daily Mercury, led by Joe and Margaret McNary, folded months after the pair began publishing the newspaper. In response, Funk and Webber launched the American Bulletin, a smaller tabloid that appeared a month after the Daily Mercury ceased production, scooping up the former newspaper’s advertising revenue and readership. The weekly Anacortes American and the almost-daily American Bulletin were published concurrently by Funk and Webber until the men merged their newspapers with the Skagit Valley Herald on Jan. 1, 1962. The American Bulletin merged with the Herald, but the Anacortes American continued as its own publication.
The Anacortes American and the Skagit Valley Herald were bought by Scripps League Newspapers in 1964. The newspapers are now owned by Adams Publishing Group.
The Anacortes American has survived nationwide economic downturns and technological changes, and is now celebrating well over a century of uninterrupted publication. News and information published by the American is available in print and online, and the newspaper continues to be invested in — and is proud to be embraced by — the community it serves.
