It was founded by Henrik Anton Heltberg (1806–1873) and Wessel Joachim Andreas Reehorst (1824–1910) in 1846.
It was Norway's best known intensive gymnasium in the 19th century, and was popular with pupils from the districts – i.e. the areas outside the capital of Christiania and its immediate surroundings.
At the time schooling at this level was all private in Norway and the country had relatively few gymnasiums.
Only a very small percentage, mainly men who intended to pursue a career as lawyers, physicians or priests, attended a gymnasium in preparation for taking the university entrance exam.
The Heltberg School is famous is Norwegian cultural and literary history due to being attended by many notable figures such as Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Aasmund Olavsson Vinje and Jonas Lie.