In 1911, the Mechanical Department was established at Zhejiang Secondary Industrial School (the predecessor of Zhejiang University's College of Engineering).
In 1920, after several name changes, Zhejiang Secondary Industrial School was upgraded to Zhejiang Public Industrial Specialized School.
In 1927, Zhejiang Public Industrial Specialized School and Zhejiang Public Agricultural Specialized School merged to form National Third Sun Yat-sen University (renamed Zhejiang University in 1928), which established the Mechanical Department within its College of Engineering.
In 1932, the College of Engineering at National Zhejiang University formally established the Department of Mechanical Engineering, with Chen Daxie as its first department head.
In 1951, the mechanical departments of Zhijiang University, Xiamen University, and part of the mechanical program from East China Transportation Industrial College were merged into the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Zhejiang University.
In 1952, during the nationwide restructuring of colleges and departments, the Department of Mechanical Engineering became one of the four departments retained by Zhejiang University.
In 1989, the State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and Control was established, with Lu Yongxiang serving as its director.
In 1999, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Energy Engineering, and the Department of Mechanics jointly formed the College of Mechanical and Energy Engineering at Zhejiang University.
In 2009, the Department of Mechanical Engineering resumed independent operations as an entity.
In 2014, it was renamed the School of Mechanical Engineering at Zhejiang University.
In 2017, the discipline of Mechanical Engineering was selected as one of the first group of national "Double First Class" key development disciplines.
In 2021, the overall evaluation of the first round of national "Double First Class" key development disciplines ranked the discipline as "Significant" (first tier), and it was successfully included in the second round of national "Double First Class" key development disciplines.
In 2022, the school relocated entirely to the Zijingang Campus of Zhejiang University for its operations.
