It was founded by John Bidwell, who discovered gold near the Middle Fork of the Feather River on July 4, 1848.

By 1853, the camp had attracted enough miners to warrant a post office, and the town's population swelled to 2,000, becoming prominent enough to become the county seat.

By the late 1850s, Bidwell's Bar was served by Whiting's Dog Express, a dog-sled service which used trained canines to deliver mail and supplies to various mining camps.

By the end of 1856, the year the bridge was completed, the gold disappeared and the San Francisco Bulletin called it "Another Deserted Village."

The last remnants of the town were submerged with the creation of Lake Oroville in 1968, and only the original bridge and the clock tower (in Butte County Historical Museum) are left.