William Tappan Thompson, author of the Major Jones series of humorous stories, along with John McKinney Cooper as publisher and owner, founded the paper on January 15, 1850 as the Daily Morning News.

At the end of the Civil War in 1865, John Cooper was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson allowing him to retain ownership of the paper.

In 1868, Thompson returned and the paper was renamed again to The Savannah Daily Morning News for one edition, then changed to the current name the following day.

[3] The reported numbers for the Savannah Morning News' circulation as of the six months ended September 30, 2009, were 39,656 daily and 52,493 on Sundays.

[6] In March 2013, the Savannah Morning News expanded its arts and entertainment section "Do" into a free standalone alt-weekly distributed at roughly 200 newsstands across Chatham County and through a new website and mobile app.