In 1900, George Gough Booth established the Cranbrook Press at the Detroit Evening News building, an enterprise that lasted a short two years, but would later be revived at Cranbrook. In January 1930, George Howard of The Spiral Press in New York recommended Edward Alonzo Miller, a well-known typographer, to come to Cranbrook to establish a Print Shop primarily for the use of the various Cranbrook institutions. The department consisted of Miller (the master printer), and two male assistants who served as both pressmen and compositors. The stitching and binding was done by a female assistant.

Early equipment included the original Washington hand press Mr. Booth had used in his private venture in Detroit, and fonts of handsome type, one for each institution. In 1929, Booth had engaged Jean Eschmann, a bookbinder of high repute, to instruct students in bookbinding with traditional hand-binding tools, as well as to provide fine leather bindings for Booth and books in the Cranbrook collection. The first volume produced by Miller and Eschmann was a service book for the Festival of Gifts at Cranbrook Church.

Unfortunately, the Depression years caused severe financial strain on Cranbrook, and by April 1933, Cranbrook Press was closed along with the Museum, and the Silver, Pottery and Bindery Shops. By then, Miller had already left for a position with a print shop in the east, while Arthur Neville Kirk, Jean Eschmann, and Waylande Gregory were expected to leave by June 30th.

In the fall of 1937, the Cranbrook Press reopened in the basement of the museum building of the Art Academy, on a modest scale, in order to accommodate the printing needs of the institutions. In June 1939, the institutions were urged to patronize the Print Shop and not go outside for cheaper work, and by November 1940, the print shop had a staff of sixteen, headed by manager William L. Wood. The Cranbrook Press continued to grow, requiring more space and better accommodations. This led to expansion which enabled the Press to take over the entire basement area of the Administration Building, and help facilitate the photo department's business by giving it more space as well. In 1946, the Academy expressed the desire to be relieved of operating the Cranbrook Press and it was assumed by the Cranbrook Foundation.

By 1975, financial concerns deemed that the Cranbrook Press was an unnecessary expense in spite of the fact it was one of George Booth's prime interests in connection with the Academy. The equipment was dispersed: the Academy was given the hand press George Booth had used in Detroit from 1900-1902 and the type fonts which had been acquired for each Cranbrook institution. All other equipment was sold to Donald Meer, who had been the Press head from 1972-1974.

Over the years, both George and Henry Booth in particular encouraged the Boards of the institutions to patronize the Cranbrook Press for all printing jobs. Regular publications printed by the Cranbrook Press included the Cranbrook Bulletin, The Crane, The Carillon, catalogs for the Academy of Art, Kingswood and Cranbrook Schools, scientific monographs for the Institute of Science, and school yearbooks. Additional printing jobs included brochures, tickets, letterhead and envelopes, as well as publications such as Kandinsky’s Point and Line to Plane (1947), Henry Scripps Booth’s The Cranbrook Booth Family of America (1955) and Cranbrook Boasts a Ghost (1963).