Campbell High School opened in 1900 and moved to the corner of Winchester Boulevard and Campbell Avenue; its Spanish Mission-style campus was rebuilt in the 1930s, and the auditorium was built in 1938 with federal work-relief funds. The campus buildings were listed on the National Register in 1989.
The school closed in 1980 and the city bought the campus in 1985 for the Campbell Community Center. The theater closed in 1982 over structural concerns and stayed dark for twenty years until volunteers formed the Friends of the Heritage Theatre. It reopened with a gala on February 14, 2004.