The Kenosha Vocational School was founded in 1912, at the request of Kenosha superintendent Mary Bradford. A building was constructed for the school in 1914, and by 1920, with 914 students enrolled, that building had already been outgrown, requiring the school to share space with local factories. A larger building was constructed later that decade, which is now part of the Kenosha Medical Center. The Vocational Act of 1963 authorized the school to construct a new building near Bradford High School, the cornerstone of which was laid in 1965 by Governor Warren Knowles. In 1968, Walworth County was added to the Kenosha vocational district, and a satellite campus began construction in Elkhorn, although it was not complete until after the 1971 merger.