The school was founded in 1910 as a combined printing class between Public School #5 and Public School #44 on Elm Street in Buffalo. In 1914, it became known as the Elm Technical School. A $1,000,000 construction project was begun to construct a new facility for the school, with the land being donated by Henry P. Burgard.LaChiusa, C. Burgard Vocational HS Retrieved September 19, 2010, from Buffalo Architectural History.
