The newspaper covers most of Ottawa County, including Holland, Beechwood and Zeeland, as well as northern Allegan County, Michigan, including Douglas and Saugatuck.

Originally an afternoon paper published six days a week, the Sentinel moved to Saturday mornings and then added a Sunday edition in the late 1980s.

[5] In 2019, GateHouse announced it was acquiring Gannett to become the country's largest newspaper chain in the United States.

[6] In the mid 1980s, the Sentinel was a satellite publishing site for the Chicago Tribune.

In the early 2000s, printing operations were moved to the Allegan, Michigan, facilities of The Flashes, a weekly advertising only newspaper that Morris Communications had purchased a few years prior.