Cogswell College was founded as Cogswell Polytechnical College on March 19, 1887 by Dr. and Mrs. Henry Cogswell. The college opened in August 1888 as a high school offering technical classes for boys and business classes for girls. It changed its status to technical college on June 30, 1930.The original campus building, located in the Mission District in San Francisco, was occupied in 1888. When the 1906 earthquake partially destroyed the campus, the College relocated across the street to an existing home on the property. After the City of San Francisco purchased some of the land by eminent domain in 1917, a new building was constructed at Folsom and 26th Streets to house the school. In 1974, having outgrown the existing campus, the College moved to a location at Stockton and California Streets. In 1985, the College moved to Cupertino, where it remained until 1994 (its old San Francisco building became a Ritz Carlton hotel). The College purchased its present Sunnyvale campus in 1993.