The Technikum Winterthur began teaching on May 4, 1874 and focussed on vocational education. The first director was Friedrich Autenheimer. It was the first technical school in Switzerland and had a department for builders, mechanics, chemists, geometers, arts and crafts drawing and modelling. Over the decades, individual departments were abolished or replaced by others for various reasons. Later the school included five departments: structural engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and chemistry.