The college was founded in 1874 as Rose Polytechnic Institute by Chauncey Rose. It retained this name until 1971 when it became the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, paying honor to the Hulman family of Terre Haute, which donated its 123 acre (0.5 km²) farm for the college's use and provided financial support over the years.

The first class of 48 students entered in 1883, chosen from 58 applicants. All but four students chose to major in Mechanical Engineering. Nearly half quit their studies before graduation for a number of reasons, including poor grades or conduct. Today, the classes are much larger, choosing about 450 students from several thousand applications. [4] 

The college was a men's-only institution for most of its history. It voted to become coeducational in 1991, with the first women students starting in 1995.

Also in 1995, the college required all incoming freshmen to purchase laptop computers, becoming one of the first schools to do so. Ever since, laptops have been required for all freshmen, and the curricula have heavily integrated computers into classroom instruction.

There have been 12 presidents in the college's history: [5] 

1. Charles Oliver Thompson, 1884-1885
2. Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, 1886-1889
3. Henry Turner Eddy, 1891-1894
4. Carl Leo Mees, 1895-1919
5. Philip Bell Woodworth, 1921-1923
6. Frank Casper Wagner, 1923-1928
7. Donald B. Prentice, 1928-1931
8. Ford Lee Wilkinson, 1949-1958
9. Ralph Alexander Morgen, 1959-1961
10. John Alexander Logan, 1962-1976
11. Samuel Foster Hulbert, 1976-2004
12. John J. Midgley, 2004-