Dhaka College is one of Bangladesh's most important as well as earliest higher-secondary educational institutions. It was established by James Taylor Wise (civil surgeon at Dhaka) in 1835 as an English Seminary School (present Dhaka Collegiate School). Mr. Wise organized a local Committee of Public Instruction with the help of district magistrate Mr. Grant. The school building was built partly out of public donations on the grounds of an English factory. On 18 July 1841, the school got its approval from the college. On 20 November 1841, the foundation stone of the college was placed and buildings were completed in 1846, with the aid of the Bishop of Calcutta. In the first graduating class there were both Muslim and Hindu students, as well as a number of foreign students, mainly from Armenia and Portugal.

The college was relocated in 1873 to a large building to the east of Victoria Park in order to accommodate the physics and chemistry laboratories. In 1908, it shifted to Curzon Hall while the science departments were housed in the present chemistry building of the University of Dhaka and two new halls were built there as well. In 1921, the college shifted again to the old High Court Building as the University of Dhaka was established there. During the Second World War, it moved to Siddique Bazar in Purana Dhaka. Finally, the college found its own permanent campus on Mirpur Road, Dhanmondi near Dhaka New Market in 1955.