Centennial College was the first to be opened in Ontario during the formation of the province’s public college system in the 1960s. Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology was established on May 21, 1965, under the direction of the Hon. William Davis, Minister of Education. The system has grown to encompass 24 public colleges serving 200 communities in the province.

As Centennial College’s first site, Warden Woods Campus opened on October 17, 1966, with 514 students enrolled in 16 career-oriented programs, including journalism, secretarial science, and early childhood education. The campus used a decommissioned federal building that had been renovated to serve as a teaching institution. It evolved over the years to include the health/nutrition, hospitality, child studies, and community services programs. In 1973, the Ontario government transferred responsibility for nursing education from the province’s hospitals to its colleges. Locally, the Scarborough Regional and the Toronto East General schools of nursing joined Centennial College to form the School of Health Sciences, based at Warden Woods Campus.

In 1992 the Scarborough Board of Education and the college established an adult education centre, the Scarborough Career Planning Centre, at the Centennial College. In 1994 the entities agreed to establish the centre there beginning in the fall of that year.

Centennial College grew rapidly, necessitating the establishment of additional campuses in the east end of Toronto to accommodate new programs and students. Warden Woods Campus closed in autumn of 2004 and was demolished to make way for a housing development. Most programs were relocated to the Centennial Science and Technology Centre (now Morningside Campus), which began operations the same year.