Established in 1851, it is the third oldest Christian Brothers school in the United States, and was one of the oldest Army JROTC schools until the program was abolished in 2019 in pursuit of a private "leadership academy" program with no relationship to the United States Armed Forces.

In 1878, the Brothers purchased the property at 1225 Vermont Avenue NW from the estate of General Montgomery C. Meigs as the site for a new school building.

In addition to regular classroom instruction, cadets participate in regional and national competitions as members of the Raiders (called the Rangers until 1994), the drill team (called the "McGovern Rifles"; see notable alumni below), the rifle team (marksmanship club), and color guard.

Current participation estimates have almost a quarter of the school in the cadet corps program, or almost 300 of the 1200 total students.

In 2013 the varsity football team defeated their historical rival Gonzaga in the WCAC semi-finals, advancing to the championship game for the first time in over 20 years, which they lost to the Dematha Stags.

[15] The campus features three multi-sport turf surfaces used for field hockey, football, lacrosse, rugby, soccer and softball.