The Islander News has been covering “The Life and Times of Key Biscayne, Florida” since Nov. 2, 1966, when it was founded by Sue Morton as The Islander Key Biscayne Weekly Bulletin, selling for 15 cents per issue or 50 cents for a monthly subscription.

That first issue led with the story, “Key Biscayne is changing,” which detailed new shops and homes on the island, and heralded the impending opening of Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on the island’s southern tip. It announced a Lion’s Club lightbulb sale, the Key Biscayne Music and Drama Club’s production of Mary Mary, the volunteer fire department’s search for more volunteers and a three-bedroom home renting for $225 per month.

Since then The Islander has helped see “The Island Paradise” through hurricanes, the years of President Richard Nixon’s “Winter White House,” the incorporation of the Village of Key Biscayne and much more. The newspaper’s offices have moved from private homes to beachfront resorts to the current home in Key Executive Building; it has been produced under a number of publishers and editors; and it has changed ownership five times.

Through it all, The Islander News has remained committed to accurate reporting, as well as being an active, engaged and productive member of the community.

Efforts to start a newspaper in Key Biscayne date back to 1954 when John Crouse served as the editor of The Key Journal. The Sandpiper followed in 1958 with Crouse as vice president and Philip DeBerard Jr. as president, and the Key Biscayne Island Post was published from 1958-1959 by Coconut Grove Publishing Co., with legendary environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas serving as associate editor.

The Key Biscayne Shopper was brieflypublished in 1961 by John Maloney, and archives hold one copy of Important Events, published by Cal-Press Inc. in 1962. The Key Biscayne Islander offered a monthly product from 1963-1964 with Pat Murphy serving as editor and publisher.

Morton began publishing The Islander Key Biscayne Weekly Bulletin out of her Palmwood Lane home as a newsletter to serve the handful of families that had chosen to call then-isolated Key Biscayne their home. She stated a mission that rings true to this day: “Most importantly, we want the needs of the community to form and guide the policies on the development of this paper.” Two years later, a young woman from Chicago named Anne Owens would join the staff of The Islander as a “paste-up” person for graphics and advertising. She would ultimately become its longtime owner and the face and heart of The Islander News.