The Tribune was founded in December 1894,[4] with Republican George B. Lockwood among its co-founders. James Solomon Barcus bought the paper in 1902. In 1904, Barcus also bought the Terre Haute Gazette (which dated to around 1869) and merged it into the Tribune.[5] (The combined paper was known, at least briefly, as the Tribune-Gazette.)
Advertisement for the launch of the Terre Haute Morning Star, Aug. 28, 1903.
The Star was founded in August 1903[6] and was bought by the owners of the Tribune in 1931. (The Terre Haute Post, founded in 1906, was acquired by the Star in 1929.)[7][8][9]
A 230-day strike shut down both the Tribune and Star in 1964-65.[10]
The Tribune and Star were sold to Ingersoll Publications in late 1982. Prior to the sale, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology owned a controlling interest in the papers.[11] In May 1983, the morning Star and afternoon Tribune were merged to become the morning-published Tribune-Star,[12] part of the nationwide trend of the period away from afternoon papers.[13]
In 1990, Ingersoll sold a number of papers including the Tribune-Star to Thomson Corporation.[14] In 2000, Community purchased the Tribune-Star and 16 other papers from Thomson, as a part of Thompson's exit from the U.S. newspaper business.[15]
On Sept. 2, 2023, the paper announced it would switch to delivery via the U.S. Postal Service starting Oct. 3. At that time, 40% of subscribers already received the paper via mail.[16]