The roots of the department extend back to 1904 when Professor J.W. Fox was the first professor of Rural Engineering. The department was formally organized in 1909 as Agricultural Engineering under in the direction of J.E. Waggoner, Department Head, and was housed in Montgomery Hall. In 1914, the department was moved into the Textile Building and remained there until 1950 when it was moved to the Howell Engineering building, the deparmet was move again to the current facilty on December 18, 2007.

The Agricultural Engineering curriculum was established in 1914 under the administration of the School of Architecture. The Agricultural Engineering curriculum was completely revised in 1948 to conform to professional requirements, and the administration of the program was switched to the College of Engineering. A new curriculum was added in 1953, Farm Equipment Management (changed to Agricultural Engineering Technology and Business in 1962), and it was administered by the College of Agriculture. The department was accredited by the Engineering Council for Professional Development in 1954. A third curriculum, Biological Engineering, was added in 1967, making it the first Biological Engineering curriculum in the nation. Concurrent with the establishment of the new curriculum in Biological Engineering, which was also administered by the College of Engineering, the department name was changed to Agricultural and Biological Engineering. The Biological Engineering program was accredited in 1972 and has been continuously accredited since then. In 1976, the research wing of the building on the north side was added. In 1992, in a university restructuring effort the Agricultural Engineering curriculum was eliminated. In February of 2001, a new graduate program in Biomedical Engineering was added to the programs in the College of Engineering with the department having responsibilities for its administration.

- historical facts were recorded by the late Professor John McWhorter -