Oakland Community College in Oakland County, Michigan was established by passage of a district-wide ballot proposal on June 8, 1964.

In September 1965, college classes began in buildings adapted from a demobilized National Guard missile base dating to the 1950s at the Auburn Hills campus and a former tuberculosis sanitarium built in the 1920s at the Highland Lakes campus.

In late 1964, the college purchased land for the Orchard Ridge campus, which opened its doors in September 1967.