A history of the Island Moon
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About Us
The Island Moon Newspaper
The first issue of the Island Moon was published in April 1996 by Michael (Mike) J. Ellis who began doing the layout of the paper in his living room at Sea Horse Condominiums on Padre Island. It was originally a fortnightly publication in a tabloid format printed in black and white at the print shop at the Kingsville Record.
Mike suffered a stroke in 2007 and was no longer able to publish the paper himself and Dale Rankin took over as Publisher in 2007 by which time the paper had switched to a broadsheet format. Jan Rankin joined the paper in 2009 and they have operated the paper since that time.
The printing switched to the Victoria Advocate in 2010 by which time the paper had switched to color and printed 9500 copies every two weeks. In January 2012 the paper switched from publishing every two weeks to a weekly which continues today with publication each Thursday.
Over the years the printing switched to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and when the presses were shut down there in 2024 the printing moved to the Rio Grande Valley (with presses in Mexico) where it is printed today.
The paper’s primary coverage is based on Padre Island, a community of 10,000 full-time residents, which is encompassed in the Corpus Christi City Limits. Circulation also includes Flour Bluff and Port Aransas.
The latest edition of the paper is posted each Thursday on the islandmoon.com website and on the islandmoonnewspaper Facebook page and with a reach of 40,000 registered readers.
As the Island Moon Enters its third decade of publication we are moving more content to the digital side of the house with the inclusion of more than 1150 past issues of the paper and background on a variety of Island subjects for new Islanders as well as long-time Islanders who want to catch up on the history of The Island and surrounding area.
We hope you will make the transition with us to the digital world in order to preserve our Island history for posterity.
Thank you for reading.
Dale Rankin
