In 1901, industrialist Alfred Bolton acquired a site on what is now College Road and in 1906 mining classes began there.
Various faculty movements and further building work resulted in North Staffordshire Polytechnic being formed in 1970 with the merger of Stoke-on-Trent College of Art, North Staffordshire College of Technology (both based in Stoke-on-Trent), and Staffordshire College of Technology in Stafford.