Central Catholic was founded 1934 by Archbishop Edward Howard as a diocesan high school for boys.

However, Archbishop Howard visited all of the Portland parishes to raise funding, and a carnival benefit was held to raise more; moreover, in 1938, a generous bequest of $20,000 was left to the school by Susan Kratz, providing the necessary resources for the project to move forward and making it possible to open the school in 1939.

Initially the school operated on a pay-as-you-go basis, meeting its expenses with its tuition, which was $50 a year.

Overhead was low because many classes were taught by the diocesan priests, who did not take salaries, and by sisters from different congregations, who were paid $50 a month.

As part of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company received between $2 million and $5 million in federally backed small business loan from Customers Bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program.