It was created in 1887 when Curt W. Miller (1864–1943) purchased the 20-month-old Salt River Valley News from publishers John Byron Fitch and T.B.
[5] Connolly published the News until his death in July 1978, by which time he had built its circulation to 15,000 and employed 80 carriers in addition to 50 other employees.
[5] His widow, Irma Connolly, published the paper until 1980, at which time she sold it to Cox Enterprises.
Cox renamed the paper Tempe Daily News Tribune in 1986 in order to make it consistent with the other newspapers it had acquired in the region.
The East Valley Tribune ceased publication in 2009, ending 122 years of continuous local news coverage in Tempe.