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The Waynesboro City Times was published between January 1889 and March 1896 by J. T. Booz. A March 15, 1896, fire destroyed the 300 Block of South Wayne (First Baptist Church site) housing the newspaper, Waynesboro Land Company, Bank of Waynesboro and Waynesboro Business College. The Waynesboro Sentinel was established by J. T. and J. F. Cook on February 10, 1892. The Sentinel later published as The Valley Herald and Valley Virginian once a week and reported on the 1896 Wayne Avenue fire. The Waynesboro Courier also published in Waynesboro during 1892.

In May 1890 the Basic City Advance, edited by James H. Lindsey and I.C. Haas, operated from 253 North Augusta. Published by the Advance Steam Publishing Company, it promoted Basic City and claimed a circulation of 6,000. It folded in 1892 about the time of an economic downturn. J.H. Lindsey later published the Charlottesville Progress.

The Blue Ridge Star, edited by Emmett G. Coleman, was published by the Hilderbrand-Burnett Printing Company on Bath Avenue in 1916. The newspaper relocated to the old Presbyterian Church building on Main Street hill in 1920 but folded in 1921. A year later, the Star Theatre operated from this building, perhaps taking its name from the former newspaper.

By 1923, the Shenandoah Valley News was published by the Basic Board of Trade during merger talks between Basic City and Waynesboro. In 1925, a second Waynesboro Times was published by J. Taylor Collins. By July 6, 1926, it folded and transferred its subscriptions and advertisements to the Valley Virginian. The Cooks sold the Valley Virginian to George C. Jordan a year before, on July 3, 1925.

The Waynesboro New,s operating from 318 South Wayne, began publication July 19, 1928, twice each week. William P. Kirkwood and Marvin W. Myers sold the newspaper on August 29, 1929, to Louis Spilman, who had formed the Waynesboro Publishing Corporation. Spilman purchased the Valley Virginian on November 19, 1929. He renamed the merged newspapers The Waynesboro News-Virginian and published from South Wayne with five employees and 687 subscribers. Spilman purchased the old Presbyterian Church building at 544 West Main and published his first newspaper there June 2, 1941. The Waynesboro News Virginian relocated to 1300 West Main in 2006.

Prior to arriving in Waynesboro by 1929 and establishing The News-Virginian, Louis Spilman was General Manager of Lyman Publishing Corporation in New York City. His column, "In the Old Arm Chair," ran for more than 40 years. Spilman was the Virginia Press Associations' president and served on Waynesboro City Council in the 1930s. He was a member of the Main Street Methodist Church, Lee Masonic Temple and Rotary Club.

Louis Spilman sold The News-Virginian in 1974 to the Evening Post Publishing Company of Charleston, S.C. Park Communications of New York purchased The News-Virginian in 1983. The paper today is owned by Media General.