The Peninsula Clarion got its start in 1970 as a strident little weekly that editorialized on all its pages.

Dick Morgan, Max Swearingen and Pat O'Connell purchased the newspaper in 1970. In its early years it was printed in a building one former editor described as a "cubicle" in Old Town Kenai next door to one of that area's bars. The paper continued to grow, eventually moving to its present location on Trading Bay Drive and converting in 1978 from a weekly to a Monday through Friday publication.

A major change occurred in 1990 when the paper was sold to Georgia-based newspaper chain, Morris Communications. In the years since, the paper has changed from tabloid format to broadsheet, and in 1997 started publishing a Sunday edition. The Clarion started producing its web site edition in April 2000.