Lick-Wilmerding High School was founded on September 21, 1874, as the California School of Mechanical Arts, at Sixteenth and 17th Street and Potrero Avenue[1] and Utah streets,[2] in the Mission District, by a trust from James Lick.

George Merrill was the director of Lick until 1939, and later also the director of the (Jellis Clute)[3] Wilmerding School of Industrial Arts and the (Miranda)[3] Lux School for Industrial Training for Girls, which were both located immediately adjacent to the Lick campus.

LWHS' Performing Arts Department has a choir, jazz band, orchestra, and two a cappella vocal ensembles.

The Ehrer Theatre (named after Marcel Roy Ehrer, an American of French and Alsatian origin) Program presents plays, musicals, and a festival of original one-act plays written and directed by students.

[9] Alternet.com has also designated Lick-Wilmerding as the 6th top high school in the United States utilizing Green Architecture [1]