In 1869, Maggie Eberhart and Seth Mobley founded the
Platte Valley Independent in
North Platte. Eberhart, whose parents had immigrated from Ireland in her infancy, had been a teacher; Mobley had begun working in a newspaper office in Iowa at the age of 10, and had briefly published the
Fort Kearney Herald, while stationed at
Fort Kearny, Nebraska in 1865. In 1870, Eberhart moved the
Independent to Grand Island and started publishing on July 2; she married Mobley the following year. The newspaper, described as "decidedly Republican", was published daily for a short time in late 1873, in connection with a political campaign of that year, but resumed weekly publication after the election. In 1883, the Mobleys, who had alienated most of their advertisers, sold the newspaper to J. A. McMurphy; a week later, McMurphy sold it to Friedrich (Fred) Hedde. Hedde had been a lawyer and journalist in his native
Holstein. he was one of the original settlers of Grand Island in 1857. He had served as County Judge and as a member of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature. Hedde converted the
Independent from a weekly to a daily in 1884; when it was sold to
Oscar S. Stauffer; he continued as editor until 1939. In 1974, the newspaper made the conversion from
letterpress to
offset printing. In 1979, it began printing a Sunday edition, initiating seven-day publication. In 1989, the "Daily" was dropped, leaving the newspaper with its present name. The newspaper was acquired by the
Morris Publishing Group in the course of their 1995 purchase of Stauffer. It introduced its website in 1996. which was acquired a year later by
Berkshire Hathaway. On Jan 29, 2020, Berkshire sold all of its newspapers, including
The Grand Island Independent, to
Lee Enterprises. Starting July 18, 2023, the paper will print five days a week, Tuesday through Saturday. ==The
Independent today==