Although the first issue of the Joliet News hit the streets in 1877 and the Joliet Herald first appeared Nov. 18, 1904, The Herald-News can trace it roots all the way back to April 20, 1839 when a group of residents of the tiny town of Juliet (named after the daughter of one of the founders) launched the weekly Juliet Courier.  A half decade later when the city’s name was changed to Joliet, in honor of the great French explorer Louis Joliet, the paper changed hands and became the Joliet Signal. Other predecessors of today’s Herald-News include the True Democrat, the Joliet Republican, the Joliet Record and the Joliet Sun.

When Col. Ira C. Copley purchased The Herald in 1913 and added the printing equipment and circulation lists of the News to his company in 1915, he merged the two papers and the Joliet Herald-News was born. In 1974, to reflect the increased circulation in fast growing Will and Grundy counties, Joliet was dropped from the masthead and the paper became known as The Herald-News.
 
Today, under the ownership of the Sun-Times Media Group, the Herald News serves nearly 40 communities in one of the fastest growing areas in the United States.

Sun-Times Media is dedicated to being the premier source of local news and information for the greater Chicago area. Its media properties serve more than 300 communities across the region and include the Chicago Sun-Times and Suntimes.com; seven suburban daily newspapers, including the Beacon-News (Aurora), Courier-News (Elgin), Herald-News (Joliet), Lake County News-Sun, Naperville Sun, Post-Tribune (Merrillville, Ind.) and the SouthtownStar; 39 weekly newspapers published by the Pioneer Press and 12 weekly Sun newspapers, as well as Web sites for those newspapers, centerstagechicago.com, RogerEbert.com and YourSeason.com.