The establishment of the College of Engineering dates back to the opening of Ohio State University in 1873. Within the initial establishment documents, the purpose of Ohio State was “to give the best attainable education in the country to young men to become farmers…or assayers…or civil engineers…or mechanical engineers…or mining engineers…or naturalists.” Under the founding documents, the University created ten departments and, in return, established four professorships pertaining to engineering: Physics and Mechanics; Mathematics and Civil Engineering; General and Applied Chemistry; and Geology, Mining, and Metallurgy. The College of Engineering was not established at Ohio State University until 1895. In 1903, the Board of Trustees approved the construction of an engineering building. The building, occupied later that year, bore the name Brown Hall, dedicated to the second dean of the College of Engineering, Christopher Newton Brown. In 2008, the Board of Trustees elected to demolish Brown Hall; deconstruction finished in 2009.

In 1922, the College of Engineering first initiated its field work study program as a requirement for all engineering majors. The College of Engineering gained a new building in 1925: The Engineering Experiment Station Building. The Engineering Experiment Station Building, previously a power plant, was no longer needed for the U.S. Government (as of 2017 named McCracken Power Plant); Ohio State bought the building for better research areas. In 1929, the offices of the College of Engineering moved from Lord Hall to the Chemistry Building. Through the late 1930s to mid-1940s, the College of Engineering struggled to integrate an accelerated three-year engineering program at Ohio State University. For years the program was either moved to disintegrate or continue in the College. Ultimately in 1945 the College of Engineering faculty decided the program to discontinue due to lack of student success. In 1950, the Department of Architectural Engineering dissolved as the faculty moved to create the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

In 1960, the College of Engineering received a new Chemical Engineering Building located on north campus. Six years later, the Board of Trustees approved the construction of a transportation research center attached to the University Experiment Station. By 1967, the College of Engineering had six new buildings either constructed or dedicated, which included: the Aeronautical and Astronautical Research Laboratory; the Metallurgical Engineering Building; Boyd Laboratory; Hitchcock Hall; Watts Hall; and MacQuigg Laboratory.

In 2015, the College of Engineering established the Department of Engineering Education.