Senn is operated by the Chicago Public Schools system and was opened on 3 February 1913.

It formerly housed the public but administratively separate, Hyman Rickover Naval Academy.

In 2011, it was announced that Senn would be adding a fine and performing arts magnet program.

With support from Mayor Richard M. Daley, Senator Dick Durbin, Alderman Mary Ann Smith, and Chicago Public Schools, a wing of the school was converted into the Rickover Naval Academy, named for Admiral Hyman G. Rickover.

Rickover Naval Academy moved into their own campus in the Portage Park neighborhood starting with the 2019–2020 school year.