Cary High School is one of six public high schools in Cary, North Carolina, and is part of the Wake County Public School System. In 1907, Cary High School became the first state-funded public high school in North Carolina. It was selected as a Blue Ribbon School in 2002.

Cary High School opened in 1896 as a private boarding school. It was established to provide "a higher course of instruction" than could be found in the local one-room schools of the area. It was located in the old Cary Academy at the head of Academy Street. Its first class graduated in May 1897. The school's first principal was Edwin Lee Middleton.

In 1907, the North Carolina legislature approved a state-wide public education system. Eight days later on April 3, 1907, the board of directors of Cary High School sold it to the Wake County Board of Education for $2,750—its estimated value at the time was more than $8,000. Half of the purchase price was paid for by the State under the new legislation. Thus, Cary High School is the first county high school in North Carolina, the first state-funded high school in North Carolina, and the first high school in the state system. The school was managed by the Cary School Committee under the leadership of C. W. Scott, chair.

The State Legislature approved the establishment of a Cary School District and authorized a school tax for residents of the area. The Cary School Committee could charge up to 30¢ in school taxes for every $100 of real estate owned in the district. The citizens approved the tax in a referendum held on May 7, 1907. The outcome of the referendum was 100 in favor of the school tax and two against it. Those who lived outside the Cary School District could attend the high school for $14 a term for freshmen and sophomores and $16 a term for juniors and seniors.

Middleton remained as the school's principal during the transition, retiring in 1908. His replacement was superintendent Marcus Baxter Dry. The curriculum consisted of one year of French, three years of science, and four years of English, history, Latin, and mathematics. The latter included arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. Domestic science was added for female students in 1910. Students could add art, elocution, music, or piano to their studies for an added fee.

In the fall of 1912, 119 students enrolled in the high school. This number included eighty boarding students from other counties. The curriculum expanded to include agriculture, botany, and chemistry as science options. That year, the Girls Athletic Club was formed so that female students could play tennis and basketball.

By 1913, the student body had outgrown the campus. Dry asked the citizens of the school district to increase the school tax so that the school could have a new building with a modern heating system. In May 1913, the voters approved $25,000 in bonds for a new 33-room brick building to be placed on the site of the original wood frame building. The State contributed an additional $5,000 to construct what was considered "the best high school building in the state". Dry recalled, "It can truly be said that this building led the way for better high school buildings in North Carolina. Many delegations of school people from all over the State came to Cary to see this building, and many a building in the next few years was modeled after it."

In 1914, the school changed its name to Cary Public High School and Farm Life School to reflect an expanded curriculum that included vocational agriculture and home economics. The next year, fifteen acres on what is now Walnut Street were donated by James M. Templeton Jr. for hands-on learning in farming. An additional $1,500 was donated by others and the Town of Cary to add a barn, farmhouse, dairy cows, and other stock to the model farm. (The farmhouse survives at 510 Walnut Street.) Students enrolled in the agricultural program would arrive early to milk the cows; the milk was then served with breakfast at the school for boarding students.