High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States. Owned by the local group Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, The Inquirer has the nineteenth largest average weekday U.S. newspaper circulation and has won eighteen Pulitzer Prizes. The paper has risen and fallen in prominence throughout its history. The Inquirer first became a major newspaper during the American Civil War when its war coverage was popular on both sides. The paper's circulation dropped after the war, then rose by the end of the 19th century. Originally supportive of the Democratic Party, The Inquirer's political affiliation eventually shifted towards the Whig Party and then the Republican Party before officially becoming politically independent in the middle of the 20th century.