The paper was founded on 7 January 1837, as the weekly Quincy Patriot by John Adams Green and Edmund Butler Osborne.

The longest-running family ownership began in 1852 when George Washington Prescott went to work for the paper as a carrier.

The Patriot Ledger was also among the first papers in the nation to establish zoned editions for local news and advertising, exchanging journalists with foreign countries, transmitting news copy and page layouts by facsimile, using a front-end computer editing system, installing a two-way radio system for spot news coverage, pioneering the use of 35-millimeter photography and setting up a "little merchants" carrier system.

In November 2013, GateHouse emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, less than two months after filing to restructure $1.2 billion of debt.

Mark Oliveiri is the publisher of The Patriot Ledger and its sister publication, The Enterprise of Brockton, and Lisa Strattan is the executive editor.