Planning for the school had begun in 1878, but the establishment was delayed by a yellow fever epidemic in the region in 1878.

Its primary purpose was the education of newly freed enslaved persons, and the original curriculum focused on the preparation of "teachers and preachers.

T. F. Saunders, a White former enslaver, and a member of the Memphis Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was appointed the first president of Lane Institute.

[15] The Lane College Department of Athletics sponsors men's intercollegiate baseball, basketball, football, cross country, and tennis, along with women's intercollegiate softball, basketball, cross country, volleyball, and tennis.

It is now docked in San Pedro, California (which is part of the commercial harbor area of Los Angeles to the south of downtown).