The Michigan Mining School was established in Houghton in 1885 to educate mining engineers at a high standard and in keeping with modern innovations. At the time, Houghton lay in the midst of one of the world’s most profitable mining districts, and many early graduates would find their first jobs not far from their alma mater. Twenty-four students enrolled in the inaugural courses, which were held in the Houghton Fire Hall on Montezuma Street. In 1889, the mining school moved to land donated by Jay A. Hubbell a little east of downtown. As the institution’s reputation grew and its population expanded, it assumed the name Michigan College of Mines in 1897. In reflection of its diversifying curriculum, in 1927 the college became the Michigan College of Mining and Technology, a moniker it would maintain for almost forty years. It gained the affectionate shorthand “Michigan Tech” not long after.

Marshman Edward Wadsworth, a prominent geologist, led the Michigan Mining School beginning in 1887. Under Wadsworth, the college became the nation’s first engineering program to offer elective courses. Fred Walter McNair, his successor, served from 1899 to 1924, guiding the Michigan College of Mines through challenging times marked by the 1913-1914 Copper Country strike, World War I, and the collapse of copper prices in the early 1920s. William Otis Hotchkiss, president from 1925 to 1935, steered the new Michigan College of Mining and Technology through the early tumult of the Great Depression; during his tenure, programs in forestry and additional types of engineering–chemical, electrical, civil, and mechanical–enrolled their first students. Grover C. Dillman assumed the presidency after Hotchkiss’s departure and remained in the office until 1956. Bolstered by the GI Bill and other incentives, the student body at Michigan Tech expanded to 2,000 students at Houghton and Sault Ste. Marie campuses by 1948.