Vancouver Island's second-oldest newspaper, the Nanaimo Daily Free Press, was started in 1874. The newspaper was published that year as a semi-weekly by George Norris. Another newspaper, the Gazette-Tribune, pre-dated the Free Press in the city. It started in 1865 and was published by a group of citizens. The Gazette-Tribune was managed by Joseph McClure, who became the sole owner in 1866 and changed the paper's name to The Tribune. This paper lasted only about a year. When it went out of business, Nanaimo was left without any news services until the founding of the Free Press. The Free Press became a daily after 14 years of operation and in it's new incarnation as the Nanaimo Daily News remains the city's only daily newspaper. When George Norris died in 1902, the paper was continued by his sons, George E. and Will F. Norris. After the death of George E. Norris, the paper was sold to Thomas Booth, who later sold it to the Nanaimo Daily Free Press Limited, a company that included two or Norris' grandsons. In 1938, the company acquired the printing plant of the Nanaimo Daily Herald, and both papers were printed there until the suspension of the Herald later that year, leaving the Daily Free Press as the only daily paper. The newspaper was printed by steam print method. The ponderous hot-metal system was replaced in time by pasted-up "cold type" which was photographed on full-size page sheets then transferred to the press on an aluminum plate. When all departments, including the newsroom, became computerized in 1985, the Free Press made a giant leap into high-tech printing. The partners continued operation of the newspaper they had bought from Booth until April 1, 1954, when they sold it to Roy Thomson. In 1961, the Thomson Corporation began publishing the Nanaimo Times which essentially existed in competition with the Daily Free Press. However, the Times was a tri-weekly mass distribution newspaper and its employees were members of the Graphic Communications International Union. The Times faced a lockout situation in 1994 and ultimately ceased production in November 1996. The following month the Daily Free Press took over the production of a new non-daily community-based newspaper replacing the Times with the Harbour City Star. The Daily Free Press remained a member of the Thomson chain until it was purchased by Southam Publishing Ltd. It was subsequently purchased by Canwest Global. In April 1997, the daily was relaunched in a new format and renamed the Nanaimo Daily News. Many Daily News staff writers and photographers have won awards for their work over the years, in British Columbia, Canada and North America competitions. The office is now located at 2575 McCullough Road.;Administrative history taken from Daily News web site.