The Dorothy Lemelson S.T.E.M. Academy opened in 1950 as Sierra Vista Elementary School. The original building was a former military building moved to the site. Additions were made to the building in 1955 and 1988. The first principal was Isabelle Moe.
In 2013 the school was remodeled and named after Dorothy Lemelson. She and her husband Jerome established the Lemelson Foundation in 1992 with the vision of cultivating future generations of inventors to create a better world. The Lemelson Foundation is the school's benefactor for S.T.E.M. Education.
