To meet the need for training, a man named Joseph Henry Clarke founded a school of embalming at the corner of Park and Sixth Streets in Cincinnati, Ohio.

After a period of working in his brother's pharmacy, Clarke studied medicine in Keokuk, Iowa, at about the time the Civil War broke out.

After the war Clarke became a casket salesman for the Whitewater Valley Coffin Company and began to realize the need for better methods of preservation for human bodies.

To learn more, he enrolled in an anatomy course taught in Cincinnati by C. M. Lukens at the Pulte Homeopathic Medical College (1873–1910).

The certificates were signed by C. M. Lukens, principal and Pulte professor of anatomy, Joseph Henry Clarke, and C. M. Epply, lecturers and demonstrators.

In addition, the fourth class, organized July 11, contained the same number of students, but it was conducted at Luken's office on Race Street.

To broaden the knowledge of students and to stimulate interest in the school, Professor Clarke and his colleagues traveled to three larger cities.

Having taught 106 students in four major cities, Clarke stated that "This ended our first year's effort to convince the people that embalming was a successful way of preserving the human dead."

In 1909, the ownership and management of Clarke's School was secured by Charles O. Dhonau, under whom it acquired its status as the Cincinnati College of Embalming.

Over the years it became clear that Dhonau was very concerned about the educational and licensing system and wrote, "Whatever a student really understood was secondary to his ability to memorize."

In 1933, Dhonau moved the administrative offices and classrooms into a newly remodeled arts and science building at 3200 Reading Road.

The space was greatly appreciated when the college enrolled the largest classes in its history shortly after World War II.

In 1954, Dhonau continued to promote that mortuary education consisted of more than simply memorizing questions and their model answers.

He said, "Since 1909, it has been our opinion, here at Cincinnati, that a mortuary college can be an educational institution rather than a state examination coaching facility; and we have never lost sight of that academic point."

To support his vision of competence and education in funeral service, Dhonau established a cooperative relationship with the University of Cincinnati for general studies and professional subjects.

In 1987, CCMS was accredited by the North Central Association and by the American Board of Funeral Service Education at the bachelor's degree level.

In 1994, because of continued growth, CCMS purchased 16 acres of land in Finneytown and built its own permanent home across the street from St. Xavier High School.