Founded in 1909, The Herald-Dispatch was formed by the merger of two competing Huntington papers, the Herald and the Dispatch. While its modern nameplate is over 115 years old, its roots stretch back to 1871, the same year the city of Huntington was founded, with the establishment of The Independent. For much of the 20th century, it operated as the morning counterpart to the afternoon Huntington Advertiser under the Huntington Publishing Company, led by the influential Joseph Harvey Long. The two papers maintained separate and fiercely competitive newsrooms even after their business operations merged in 1927. 

The newspaper underwent significant corporate transitions following the end of local family ownership in 1971, when it was sold to the owners of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and subsequently to Gannett Co. Inc. just ten months later. In 1979, The Advertiser ceased publication, leaving The Herald-Dispatch as Huntington’s sole daily newspaper. Ownership changed hands again in 2007, moving from Gannett to GateHouse Media and then quickly to Champion Industries, a Huntington-based firm headed by local businessman Marshall Reynolds. 

In July 2013, HD Media LLC, led by Doug Reynolds, purchased the paper from Champion Industries. Under this new local ownership, the publication moved its print production to Charleston in 2016 and relocated its longtime downtown newsroom to a new facility on Braley Road in 2021. Today, The Herald-Dispatch remains a vital daily voice for the Tri-State area, publishing five days a week (Tuesday through Saturday) with a combined weekend edition that replaced its traditional Sunday issue in August 2023.