The Evansville Courier opened in 1845 and printed its first issue two years before the city had a charter. In 1906, E. W. Scripps and his attorney founded the Evansville Press. The Evansville Press fought successfully for toll-free bridges over the Ohio River, for good schools, better government, penal reform, better long range financing for Hoosier roads and riverfront revitalization.

The Press and the Courier were separate and fierce competitors until 1937 when the Press was flooded and the Courier agreed to print the Press. In 1938 The Press and The Evansville Courier organized a common publishing corporation to handle business affairs with each newspaper retaining separate editorial management and policy. An unusual feature of the operation was a combined Sunday Courier and Press with two editorial pages from the two dailies, but the Sunday newspaper had its own editorial staff.

That situation continued to 1986 when Scripps sold The Press and purchased The Evansville Courier, folding the Sunday paper into the larger operation as an edition of The Evansville Courier. On January 1, 1999, when The Press folded, the surviving newspaper was renamed the Evansville Courier & Press.

The Courier & Press serves about 67,800 daily and 86,200 Sunday readers in a 21-county market. The newspaper is known for its dedication to community service and commitment to education. As part of the newspaper's 150th anniversary, it planted 150 trees on the University of Southern Indiana campus. Many of the company's corporate leaders through the years cut their journalistic teeth as editors and managers in Evansville.