Patrick Scanlan, the pastor of St. Rose's Parish in Sacramento, initiated fundraising and social efforts with the purpose of opening a large high school to serve the city's Catholic youth.

Scanlan began construction of a building to house the school on an empty plot of parish land.

[5] Subjects taught were the standard ones, with special emphasis placed on languages, art and music, a curricular feature not found in the Sacramento Public Schools.

[5] In 1896, the school was once again renamed, this time to Christian Brothers College, a name meant to reflect the institution's great emphasis on advanced secondary learning in a classical, rather than technical, curricular format.

[6] The American Brothers had, for years, been instructing students in classical subjects such as music, art, business skills, Greek and Latin.

[6] In 1894 the Congregation Chapter had banned the teaching of languages and ordered the classical departments of their schools closed.

[7] The new Director spearheaded plans to expand the physical campus of the school to accommodate the growing student body.

In 1919 alone, three small fires struck the school, causing little damage but acting as a 'wakeup call' to the college leadership.

[7] The college's urban location had become increasingly developed and commercialized, so the property would sell for a high price which could be used to purchase a larger plot.

[7] The original property was sold to Weinstock, Lubin, Co., who built a department store on the site for $210,000 ($2,918,000 in 2015 dollars[9]).

[7] The new building was an imposing two-story Mission Revival structure, with a bell tower crowning the center of the front façade.

[11] Male and female students would only share the cafeteria and the gymnasium during the school day, but most extracurriculars would be coed, as well as social events such as dances.

[11] Construction of the new high school began in November 1955, and was dedicated on 24 March 1957 by Cardinal James Francis McIntyre of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

[11] The next year, St. Joseph's Academy closed permanently, and St. Francis moved the combined female student body to new and separate campus.

[11] The boys remained on the Bishop Armstrong campus, under a new name, Christian Brothers High School.

[11] In the end, the school's strong historical connection to the City of Sacramento caused CBHS leadership to decide against the move.

[11] In the late 1970s, spurred by the preparation for closure by the all-girls Bishop Manogue High School, began to consider becoming a coeducational institution.

Also that year saw the beginning of KBFT, a closed-circuit television station, with programming starring, produced, and broadcast entirely by Christian Brothers High School students.

[2] CBHS is affiliated with the National Education Council of Christian Brothers, the Christian Brothers' Secondary School Administrators' Association, the San Francisco District of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Saint Mary's College of California, the National Catholic Educational Association, California Scholarship Federation, National Honor Society, the California Association of Student Councils, Sierra Valley Conference, Sac-Joaquin Section of the California Interscholastic Federation, and the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

KBFT broadcasts a live, closed-circuit program to all students and staff as well as to a web audience at cbtalon.com three times per week.

KBFT is also renowned for Zeller Food Reviews, a show which aired in the latter half of the 18th season for 6 episodes.

Featuring CB student Andres Zeller, the program consisted of short satirical 2 minute segments where the school's cafeteria food was eaten and critiqued.

The segment was lauded by both the faculty and student body alike, and remains today as one of the crowning achievements of KBFT in its over 20 years of running.

Several graduates of Christian Brothers High School who participated in KBFT have pursued careers in media.