The Mountain Home News is one of the oldest continuously produced newspapers in the state of Idaho, its roots going back to the 1880s

In the 19th century, most small towns weren't considered complete until they had a church and a newspaper, and several papers were produced in Elmore County in its early years of development.

The current paper traces its genealogy back to The Range and Valley, which began publication in Elmore County around 1883, although little of it is known and no copies are known to survive. Eventually, it became The Mountain Home Bulletin, the first newspaper in the new town of Mountain Home, which produced its first publication on June 2, 1888. Microfilm copies of that paper still exist in the archives of the present newspaper.

The name of the paper was changed to The Elmore Bulletin in 1889. The publisher of the Bulletin was G.M. Payne, who operated it until June 1, 1905.

On May 10, 1906, the paper was purchased by J.W. Connella, who became its editor and publisher and changed the name to the Mountain Home Maverick.

The Maverick wasn't the only publication in the county at that time. Published in other communities were The Republican and the South Idaho Herald. On May 7, 1910, Connella purchased both of those papers and merged the publications into the newly named Elmore County Republican, with co-publishers Norell and Jacobson (first names not known).

The paper operated under that name until April 3, 1914, when Charles Hackney purchased it and changed the name to The Elmore Times. He operated the paper until Jan. 5, 1918, when it went through yet another ownership and name change. This time, new publisher-owner George Lee changed the name to the Mountain Home Republican. Lee ran the paper under that name until June 26, 1947, when it was sold to Robert and Eleanor Cooley, who changed the name to the Mountain Home News. The two operated the paper with Robert serving as publisher.

In 1960, the couple sold the newspaper to Lloyd and Vivian Waters. The paper stayed in the Waters family until August 1986, when, following Lloyd's death, it was sold to Phillips Media and Terry Hanna was named as publisher. He served for two years until being replaced by Mike Thornberry. At the time Phillips Media purchased the News, they also acquired the Glenns Ferry Pilot, retaining it as an independent paper but bringing administrative control under the News operation.

On June 6, 1988, Gozia-Driver Media purchased the News, leaving Thornberry in place as publisher. In May 1989, the Pilot was sold to Don Black. It later went out of business and, in order to help fill the void, the News created in 1995 the Glenns Ferry Gazette as an independent adjunct publication with Melanie Brown as editor. Publication of the Glenns Ferry Gazette stopped on January 5, 2016.

In February 1991 Thornberry was promoted and transferred and Coleen Swenson, daughter of Lloyd and Vivian Waters, was named publisher, returning local administrative control to the long-time newspaper family.

In October 1997 the paper was sold to Rust Communications, its present owner, with Swenson retained as publisher.

In February 2014, long-time business manager Brenda Fincher was promoted and named publisher. After 31.5 years with the Mountain Home News, Brenda Fincher retired on June 2, 2023. Long-time employee Joy Martinez took over the reins as General Manager effective February 6, 2023.

Phone numbers

(208) 587-3331

Postal address

195 S 3rd East St.
P.O. Box 1330
Mountain Home, ID 83647