Voorhees College was founded in 1898.  Known initially as the Arcot Mission College it came into existence out of amalgamation in 1895, of the Arcot  Academy at Ranipet and the Church of Scotland Mission High School at Vellore.  The Arcot Mission High School as the amalgamated school was called, was raised to the status of an intermediate college and was affiliated to the University of Madras in 1898.  In 1902 Mr. & Mrs.  Ralph Voorhees of the Reformed Church in America made a generous gift of $25,000 to the college; a further contribution ;of $10,000 was made in  1911.  New buildings at the present location were built with these funds and the college was named after the benefactors as Voorhees College.

            In 1957, the institution was raised to the status of a first grade college, offering instruction in four major subjects.  The first batch of graduates came out of the college in 1960. The B.Com. course was added in 1970.

            The Platinum Jubilee of the college was celebrated in 1975.  In the same year Voorhees became a Post-graduate institution.  The College has been offering  M.Sc., in Mathematics from 1975 and M.Com., and M.Phil. (Maths) from 1977.  New courses offered at the graduate level are B.A., (Defence Studies) from 1978, B.A., (Tamil) from 1982, and B.A., (English) from 1985. M.A.,(History) is offered from 1986, and M.Sc., in Zoology from 1987.  M.Sc., (Physics) in the evening colleges was started in 1991.  B.Sc., (Computer Science) and M.C.A., ( Master of Computer Application), both in the evening college started in 1994. M.A(Tamil) & B.B.A (Bacheler of Business Adminstration) were in 2003.

            Voorhees College was originally under the management of the Arcot Mission of the R.C.A.  After the Church Union and the merger of the Arcot Mission with the  C.S.I. the college came to be managed by a Governing Board constituted as an administrative body of the Diocese of Madras with the Bishop in Madras as the Chairman.  After the formation of the Vellore Diocese the membership of the Governing Board was suitably changed with the Bishop in Vellore as the Chairman.

            The Motto of the College is “IN VAIN WITHOUT GOD”  

"In Vain without God" is English version of the motto of Latin "Nisi dominus frusta" of the Reformed Church in America.