Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since The Columbus Citizen-Journal ceased publication in 1985.

For its first few years, the paper rented a headquarters on North High Street and Lynn Alley in Columbus.

In 1895, the paper moved its headquarters to the northeast corner of Gay and High streets, a larger building on a site which was previously a grocer.

[3] The paper, renamed The Columbus Evening Dispatch, changed hands several times in its early years.

[7] The Dispatch endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland in the 2006 Ohio elections,[8] but endorsed John Kasich, the Republican candidate running against his reelection, in 2010[9] A competing paper, The Columbus Citizen-Journal (known locally as the "C-J", pronounced "See-Jay") was beholden to the Columbus Dispatch for its printing facilities, and controversy surrounded the C-J's demise in 1985.

The Dispatch Broadcast Group, comprising WBNS-AM-FM-TV in Columbus and NBC affiliate WTHR (channel 13) in Indianapolis, remained in the hands of the Wolfe family until 2019, when it was sold to Tegna, Inc., which promptly absorbed the firm.