It was established as Harford Junior College in September 1957 with 116 students in the buildings and on the campus of the Bel Air High School in the county seat.

[3] HCC was founded in September 1957 as the "Harford Junior College" on the campus and in the basement of the building for Bel Air High School with 116 original students.

In 1964, it moved to its current location east of Bel Air on Thomas Run Road in Bel Air, where it continued to grow and eventually was renamed "Harford Community College" in 1971, using the title of "community" which had become more popular in the former nationwide "junior college movement".

Dating back into the 1920s with some public and a few private colleges at the lower level conceived and founded, with some earlier antecedents and similar schools appearing in Baltimore at the turn of the 20th Century (with The Baltimore City College - high school (1839) and lower college (1866), and later the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (1883), that some old-time citizens of Harford County traveled into the city to avail themselves of the educational opportunities in the state's major city.

This nickname was chosen during the institution's early years, when it was largely an evening college and the nocturnal nature of the Owl represented that fact.

Harford has traditionally had a successful athletics program, with over 70 students being named All-Americans on the junior college level of interscholastic sports.

[8] Harford Men's Lacrosse won their first NJCAA title in 2023 with a win over Nassau to cap a 12-0 season.

"Flight Night" is the name of the athletic rivalry between the HCC "Fighting Owls" and the Hagerstown Community College "Hawks" of western Maryland's Washington County.

[10] HCC hosts WHFC, an FM radio station that serves the metro Baltimore area to the southwest, as well as southern Pennsylvania to the north.

[12] On February 27, 2012, it was announced that APG Federal Credit Union had bought the naming rights for the facility for $50,000 annually over 15 years.

Constructed in 1968, a 2007 renovation eliminated a track, and now features an artificial turf field, lights, and press pavilion.

To the north is the Joppa Hall, which houses the "Joppa Recital Hall", used for musical recitals, and the "Blackbox Theatre", an additional theater venue utilized by the "HCC Actors Guild" and the "Harford Dance Theater Company".

Darlington Hall, opened in 2014, is HCC's central hub for students pursuing nursing and allied health degrees and certificates.