It was founded in 1920 by Gotthilf Berger, Edward Raczyński and Hipolit Cegielski, in place of the German-language high school previously known as Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium, in honor of Frederick III. Between 1853 and the First World War the Polish-German sections of the school were known also as the Real School and the Berger Gymnasium after G. Berger.
School report 1850 (source: State Archive in Poznań)