In the 1940s there was a long felt need for a full-fledged college in the Head Quarters of West Godavari District. This need was fulfilled when late Sri Rao Saheb Damaraju Venkata Rao, the then chairman of the Municipal Council, Eluru, took the initiative in 1944. The Municipal Council under his stewardship enlisted the sympathy and support of the philanthropic citizens in and around Eluru and embarked on a collection drive and deposited Rs.2 lakh 17 thousand in the Municipal Treasury as an earmarked fund for the starting of the college.
The college was inaugurated on 4th July 1945 by Sir Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy, the distinguished educationist and the then Vice-Chancellor, Andhra University, and the college were named after him as "Sir C.R.Reddy Municipal College". It started functioning as a second-grade college, with Sri. Subrahmanyam as the Founder Principal.
A constitution was adopted for the Governing Body in the year 1947, according to which the word "Municipal" was dropped from the original name of the college. The name of the College was treated as an institution under Private Management by the Government from 1947.The College was raised to the status of First Grade with effect from July 1951 when the University granted affiliation for B.Sc Physics (Main) and B.Com Courses. The College was granted further affiliation in Degree Courses for B.A. (Mathematics) and B.A. which were started in July 1954.
