Founded in 1907 as San Antonio's first permanent public high school, Main Avenue High School educated generations of San Antonians across lines of class, culture, and ambition. When Main Avenue High School opened in the early twentieth century, San Antonio was a fast-growing city of over 50,000 people, and the demand for secondary education far outstripped the available facilities. The school served the children of German merchants from King William, the sons and daughters of Tejano families who had lived here for generations, Anglo newcomers from across the South, and the children of military families from the nearby installations.
In later decades, the building transitioned through several identities as the city built new high schools in growing neighborhoods. The campus eventually became Fox Technical High School — a vocational and technical training institution that has served working-class San Antonio families for decades, providing skills training in electronics, health sciences, culinary arts, and construction trades. The evolution of this campus from academic high school to technical college mirrors the economic history of the surrounding neighborhood — a story of a community that reinvented itself to meet the needs of each new generation of San Antonio workers.