Founded in 1841 by Isaac Van Anden and Henry Cruse Murphy, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle was published as a daily newspaper for 114 consecutive years without missing a single issue. The newspaper, originally conceived as a temporary political forum for the 1842 election, ironically survived longer than its competitors and eventually absorbed all other Brooklyn daily papers except the Brooklyn Citizen. At one point the Eagle actually became the nation's most widely read afternoon newspaper. In a practice unusual among major metropolitan daily newspapers of that time period, the Eagle chronicled national and international affairs as well as local news and daily life in Brooklyn. As a result the Brooklyn Daily Eagle provides a window into Brooklyn's past, as well as documentation of national and international events that shaped history.

Brooklyn existed as an independent city until the consolidation of New York City in 1898. The Eagle played a vital role in the community of Brooklyn's self-identification as being separate from and even superior to Manhattan. For example, the paper took an active role in developing the Brooklyn Bridge as a symbol of Brooklyn's pride. The paper also coined Brooklyn's nickname "the borough of homes and churches." With offices in Brooklyn, New York, Washington, Paris and London, the Eagle became one of the borough's greatest institutions. Distinguished editors of the Eagle included Walt Whitman, Thomas Kinsella, St. Clair McKelway, Cleveland Rodgers, and Frank D. Schroth.

The rise and fall of the Eagle coincided with economic development in Brooklyn. The paper folded in 1955 after a prolonged strike called by the New York Newspaper Guild. At the time it closed the paper employed 681 people and did an annual business in the sum of approximately $6 million.