Founded in 1890 as the Columbia School of Oratory by Mary A. Blood and Ida Morey Riley, both graduates of the Monroe Conservatory of Oratory, now Emerson College, in Boston, Massachusetts, the institution changed names over time

The school changed its name again in 1904 to Columbia College of Expression; in 1944, to Columbia College; and in 1997 to Columbia College Chicago.

Through the name changes, one constant remains: the oratorical roots still inform the curricula today.