San José de la Salle is one of the most traditional schools in Medellín and the first school of the La Salle brothers in Colombia. .
San José school was founded by La Salle brothers in 1890, in the city of Medellín. The brothers first arrived in Aburrá Valley, then went to Barranquilla, and then to Puerto Berrio in the department of Antioquia and finally they arrived in Copacabana. This community started classes on April 7, 1890. In 1907 the first group received their bachelor's degrees. In 1911 the Biology Museum of the school was founded by Brother Nicéforo Maria.
The first location of this school was behind the Hotel Nutibara, on the street Caracas with the street Palace in the downtown of Medellín. In 1940 the school celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of foundation with all community and the education minister Jorge Eliécer Gaitan. The flag, the shield and the anthem were adopted as symbols.In 1955 the school changed location from Medellín downtown to a new campus with more commodity than the old one behind Nutibara hotel. This location was named "Morro de Cuatro Vientos". In the same year the school received the Boyacá Cross when brother Ignacio Felipe was the principal. In 1974 the school, which had accepted only boys, changed this policy and started also accepting girls when the principal brother Andres Rosero Bolaños founded the kindergarten. In 1976 the school received the Antioquia Star. In 1980 it celebrated his first twenty five years there.
In 1990 the school celebrated one century of the foundation of San José School. It was an important celebration for the community of La Salle because also was one century of La Salle in Colombia. In this year the school received important recognitions of many institutions in Colombia and Antioquia.
In 2005 the school celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the campus on "Morro de Cuatro Vientos". In 2007 the school changed the location to a modern place with all technologies in La Cola del Zorro, in the district of Poblado in Medellín.