The Herald Bulletin has a long history of serving east-central Indiana. The Anderson Herald first began publishing in 1868 as a weekly publication. The Anderson Daily Bulletin was formed in 1885 by three printers who lost their jobs due to a newspaper merger. They pooled their resources of $27 and started Madison County's first successful daily newspaper.

In 1949, the Herald and the Daily Bulletin merged, forming Anderson Newspapers, Inc. The move combined the business, advertising, circulation and production departments of the two newspapers, but kept the newsrooms separate. In 1986, the Herald and Daily Bulletin were sold to Ingersoll Publications. The new owner merged the two dailies into one morning daily, publishing seven days a week - the first edition of The Herald Bulletin was published April 5, 1987. Ingersoll decided to divest all of its U.S. holdings, including The Herald Bulletin which was sold to Thomson Newspapers in 1990.In 2000, Thomson Newspapers sold The Herald Bulletin and its other Indiana newspapers to Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.