The paper was founded in 1886 as the Charlotte Chronicle. The Chronicle was sold to Joseph Caldwell in 1892, and began appearing as the Charlotte Daily Observer on March 13, 1892. It was purchased by Knight Newspapers in 1955. Knight merged with Ridder Publications to form Knight Ridder in 1974. "The Observer" eventually became the fourth-largest newspaper in the Knight Ridder chain (behind "The Philadelphia Inquirer" and "Daily News," "Detroit Free Press" and "Miami Herald"). In 1959, "The Observer" purchased "The Charlotte News", Charlotte's afternoon newspaper. All operations were merged except editorial content, which was fused in 1983. "The Observer" ended circulation of the afternoon "News" in 1985.