The Pekhorka River system covers an area of 40 kilometers (25 mi) from north to south and 20 kilometers (12 mi) from east to west, and many small lakes and ponds were created by damming to provide water power for the cotton mills in the 19th century.

The failure of the Decembrist Revolt against Tsar Nicholas I led to the execution of its ringleaders and the exile of many nobles to Siberia.

In truth, the Decembrist prisoners were sent from St. Petersburg, then the capital of Russia, through Yaroslavl, and not through Moscow and Balashikha, and the story was invented as part of celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the event in 1925.

Several institutions were founded in Balashikha after the October Revolution, including one dedicated to the production of fur.

Among those who fought and died was Ivan Flerov who commanded a Katyusha rocket division and is remembered by several monuments and museums in the area.

Along with many other Russian Orthodox Churches, the Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky was demolished by the government.

Additionally, Afghan operatives of the KhAD agency were sent to Balashikha for training under the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

[12] The Balashikha Maternity House was designated on July 1, 2003, to be the Moscow Oblast Perinatal Center.

From 2007 to 2010 it was a home venue for HC MVD,[19] that took part in Kontinental Hockey League and from 2019 to 2022 it hosted Avangard Omsk[20][21] that won Gagarin Cup in 2020-21 season.

Balashikha is the site of a large Russian Army base and was closed to foreigners during the Soviet era, a ban which, in theory, remains to the present day.