Its 9-acre (3.6 ha) campus is located in the Central Eastside commercial area of Portland, Oregon, United States.

[8] It was established to give "boys who wished to enter a trade a better opportunity than do shops and factories of the present time."

[8] Six blocks of land at Northeast 12th and Hoyt were purchased and a building was built, and the new Benson Polytechnic School opened its doors on September 4, 1917.

Mr. Benson gave the student body $10,000 during World War I, and the first Tech Show was presented to the Portland community.

Shortly after World War I, beginning in 1919, the federal government contracted with the school, and 50 disabled soldiers were educated.

[13] A broadcasting station license, with the call letters KFIF, was issued on March 23, 1923, to the Benson Polytechnic Institute.

[16] A more formal station introduction, coinciding with the start of the fifth annual Benson Technical Show, was broadcast from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m on May 9, with scheduled addresses by school director W. F. Woodward, Benson Tech principal C. E. Cleveland, and student body president Bill Norvell, plus singing by Marguerite Carney.

[8] In 1953, the Portland School Board launched a five-year building program to upgrade Benson Tech.

In 1991, a new health occupation wing, a new library, a new student services center, and a new band room were added, and halls and offices were modernized.

During the renovation, Benson Tech classes took place at the campus of the former John Marshall High School in Portland's Lents neighborhood.

In fall 2022, the students proposed to the school board that it was time to select a new name and mascot and a process of online voting was established.

Whittled down to three, 'Astros' was selected and went before the PPS school board for ratification in May 2023 being approved for use in 2024 coinciding with the renovated building.

Some previous players have chosen to play at Hawaii, UCLA, USC, Nevada, Oregon State, Rhode Island, Stanford, and other schools.