Constructed at a cost of $2.5 million, Fort Hunt High opened its doors at 8428 Fort Hunt Road in 1963, toward the end of the post–World War II baby boom, as part of the Fairfax County Public Schools.

[1] The school suffered $4.5 million in fire damage as the result of arson on December 30, 1978, when two seniors at the school and a 1978 graduate[2] threw Molotov cocktails into the building.

[3][4] The fire resulted in the forced relocation of 1,700 students[5] who were sent on a split shift to nearby Groveton and Mount Vernon High schools through the remainder of the 1978–79 school year.

The Fort Hunt campus was converted into Carl Sandburg Middle School, which replaced the older Stephen Foster and Bryant Intermediate Schools.

A large community of Fort Hunt High School alumni remains active online,[8] organizing regular all-school and all-year reunion gatherings,[9] and granting annual scholarships to graduating seniors of West Potomac High School.