The Mansfield News building was built on the northwest corner of West Fourth and North Walnut in 1886 to house publisher William Cappeller's new newspaper, the Mansfield News--the city's first daily paper. In 1932, The News merged with their chief rival, the Mansfield Journal, to create the Mansfield News-Journal. The Journal's inadequate plant on South Walnut was abandoned and later became a parking lot for the Mansfield Leland Hotel.

In June of 1948, the News Journal announced that they'd outgrown the narrow, landlocked News headquarters and would be building a new publishing plant a block further west at the corner of North Mulberry and West Fourth. The old News building survived another 14 years before it was finally razed in 1964.