The Tribune Company was founded on June 10 , 1847 when the eponymous '' Chicago Daily Tribune '' published its first edition in a one-room plant located at LaSalle and Lake Streets in downtown Chicago . The original press run consisted of 400 copies printed on a hand press . The '' Tribune '' constructed its first building , a four-story structure at Dearborn and Madison Streets , in 1869 . The building was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871 , along with most of the city . The '' Tribune '' resumed printing two days later with an editorial declaring " Chicago Shall Rise Again . " Joseph Medill , a native Ohioan who acquired an interest in the '' Tribune '' in 1855 , gained full control of the newspaper in 1874 and ran it until his death in 1899
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
Tribune Media