This college owed its origin to the Presidency School. In 1882,
Surendranath Banerjee took over the charge of the presidency school. In 1884, this school was renamed as Presidency Institution and affiliated to the University of Calcutta. Later, in the same year, with permission from Lord Ripon, this school was elevated to a first grade degree college and named as Ripon College.
Surendranath Banerjee entrusted his close friend and political associate,
Gagan Chandra Biswas, who was an
Engineer from
Shibpur and fully committed to the nationalist cause, to built the building of this college. Subsequently, he built the building which has been modified and improved throughout the years. In 1885, this college started the Department of Law. Later in 1911, this law section was converted into a separate law College and named as Ripon Law College. In 1931, women's section was opened. In 1940, The Department of Commerce was established. In 1947, trustees of this college opened an evening science section. In 1960, both the evening and women's section became a separate degree college. Evening section of this college is known as
Surendranath Evening College and the women's section became an independent Degree College, named,
Surendranath College for Women. For much of its history, this college was known as
Ripon College, named for the
British Viceroy Lord Ripon, but in 1948–1949, it was renamed for its founder.
Swami Vivekananda delivered his first address in Calcutta from the rostrum of this college on his return from Chicago after his famous deliverance at the
Parliament of the World's Religions. ==Departments and courses==