The newspaper was founded and long published by Colonel Allen Griffin, and its long-time editor-in-chief was Edward Kennedy.

Scripps traded the paper, along with The (San Luis Obispo) Tribune, to Knight Ridder in 1997, in exchange for the Boulder Daily Camera.

The deal was contingent on McClatchy selling off 12 of the 32 newspapers it had just purchased, including The Monterey County Herald .

On April 26, 2006, it was announced that MediaNews Group, headed by William Dean Singleton, would purchase four of the "orphan 12", including the Herald, the Contra Costa Times and San Jose Mercury News, for $1 billion.

[8] In 2013, the Santa Cruz Sentinel joined the same community newspaper division for Digital First Media as the Monterey Herald.