The Stranger was founded in July 1991 by Tim Keck, who had previously co-founded the satirical newspaper The Onion, and cartoonist James Sturm.

[2] It was originally distributed as a single sheet of newsprint wrapped around a wad of coupons redeemable at local businesses.

[7] Journalist Charles Mudede, current senior staff writer and former associate editor, had his weekly Police Beat column loosely adapted into a film of the same name, directed by its co-writer, Robinson Devor.

[citation needed] Erica C. Barnett, who was an early news editor for the paper, was named reporter of the year in 2007 by Seattle's Municipal League.

It was redesigned to include longer feature stories and printed on heavier paper stock similar to magazines.

[16] In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 13, 2020, The Stranger announced that, due to a dramatic decrease in income from loss of advertising revenue, it would suspend its print edition.

[20][21] Index Media retained a 20 percent stake in the newspaper, while Walkinshaw had the largest share of the "about 20" individual investors in Noisy Creek.

[24] Winners of the award include the filmmaker James Longley, the filmmaker Lynn Shelton, the writer Sherman Alexie, the poet Heather McHugh, the actress Sarah Rudinoff, the experimental-theater collective Implied Violence, Strawberry Theatre Workshop, the artist Jeffry Mitchell, and the artist Wynne Greenwood.