[1] The paper was founded January 16, 1869, by Hugh Graham, 1st Baron Atholstan, and George T. Lanigan as the Montreal Evening Star.

As well as news and editorials, the Star sometimes created its own topics of interest; in the late 1890s it sponsored a world tour for journalist Sarah Jeannette Duncan, and printed a series of features about her adventures.

McConnell also owned two other publications, the Montreal Standard[8] and the weekly Family Herald: Canada's National Farm Magazine.

[9] After McConnell's death in 1963, Toronto-based FP newspaper group, owner of The Globe and Mail and the Winnipeg Free Press acquired the Montreal Star.

[13] The death of the Star, soon followed by the simultaneous closing of the Winnipeg Tribune and Ottawa Journal pushed the federal government to establish the Kent Commission to examine newspaper monopolies in Canada.

[15] Other contributors of note included Kathleen Shackleton in the beginning of the 20th century, Red Fisher, Doris Giller, Nick Auf der Maur, Don Macpherson, Terry Mosher and Dennis Trudeau, many of whom moved over to The Gazette when the Star folded.