Thiagarajar College was founded in 1949, in the pilgrim city of Madurai, by Kalaithanthai Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar, one of the visionaries of South India in the 20th century. Formally opened on 12th   October 1949 by his excellency , the king of Bhavanagar, the then Governor of Madras State, the College is 57 years young. It is a private-aided institution affiliated to Madurai Kamaraj University and is managed by Kalaithanthai Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar Memorial Trust.
The College is situated at a vantage point, on the Madurai - Rameswaram highway and in between the legendary river Vaigai to its north and the famous Vandiyur Mariyamman Teppakulam to its south.

With ”Anbum arivume sivam”, as its motto, the mission of the college is to offer quality higher learning and value based education, particularly to the weaker sections. Everyone associated with the college put in their best to satisfy the needs of all the stakeholders in higher education, by providing the needed  infrastructure, ICT aids, extension activities, welfare programmes and several healthy practices.

The multifaceted genius of the founder Thiagarajan Chettiar and his heirs, particularly. Dr.Mrs.Radha Thiagarajan and Karumuttu T.Kannan (President & Secretary of the college respectively), the spirit of research, the  "miles-to-go" attitude and the innovative and empowering culture, the college has witnessed phenomenal growth in just 50 years. It has undergone a seat change in terms of horizontal, vertical, spacial and ripple growth. It attained research status in 1978; became Autonomous in 1987 and was accredited with FIVE stars by NAAC in 2001.