The Lincolnshire Echo was Lincolnshire’s first daily (evening) paper, founded in 1893 by letterpress printer William Cottam and journalist Samuel Burrows both of Liverpool. They found financial backing locally, and formed a limited company (The Lincolnshire Publishing Company) under the chairmanship of manufacturer and former Liberal MP for Lincoln, Joseph Ruston. Burrows was the manager and Cottam was the first editor.

The first issue was a four page broadsheet with mostly advertisements on the front page. It continued in that format for almost 100 years until 1991, when it converted to tabloid.