St. Augustine, Fla. was six years away from a new century when civic Leader Charles F. Hopkins Jr. founded The Daily Herald on Oct. 21, 1894. The Daily Herald's slogan was: "An earnest exponent of the Interests of Ye Ancient Citye and its people, the East Coast of Florida and the State at Large."

Hopkins operated it out of an office on Hypolita Street in the heart of the old Spanish Quarter. One part of the building housed his real estate office; the other, the Herald.

But in 1899, Hopkins had other interests and sold the Herald to D. E. Thompson on August 6. Thompson and a group of local investors bought the Herald. Included in the investment group was the Flagler System whose owner was Henry M. Flagler, a founder of Standard Oil, who developed the Florida East Railway and several hotels from St. Augustine to Miami.

On September 1, 1899, the Herald became The Evening Record because Thompson had also purchased another local newspaper of the day, The St. Augustine Evening News. By the end of the year, he would also buy the third local newspaper, The Morning Journal, merging it into The Record.

Sometime in 1936, without fanfare, the newspaper became known as The St. Augustine Record.

A.H. Tebault, Sr., from Tallahassee and a group of local investors bought The St. Augustine Record from the Flagler System in 1942. By 1957, Tebault was the sole owner. Tebault died in 1963. His widow, Elizabeth, and son A.H. Tebault owned and operated The St. Augustine Record until 1966 when they sold it to Florida Publishing Company, owners of The Florida Times-Union.

The St. Augustine Record is a morning newspaper published seven days a week. It serves all of St. Johns County, which is located 43 miles south of Jacksonville, along Florida's Atlantic coast.

Morris Communications purchased the newspaper as part of its acquisition of Florida Publishing Company from the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1982. Both of Morris' sons, William S. Morris IV and J. Tyler Morris, have served as publishers of The St. Augustine Record