Prior to European settlement, the Jameco and Canarsie bands of Lenape Native Americans frequented this area.

During the 17th century, Dutch settlers established a community on the island and began harvesting oysters, clams, shrimp, and fish.

[3]: 56 The Long Island Rail Road built its Rockaway Beach Branch across the bay in 1880, cutting through Broad Channel.

[4][5][6][7] The presence of the railroad led to the development of fishing villages with shacks, summer homes, boathouses, and stores.

[9] The Broad Channel Corporation in turn made 10-year subleases to private individuals for the development of summer bungalows and houses.

[10] There was public criticism of the lease after the public learned about the deal, which Pierre Noel, president of the Broad Channel Corporation, countered by pointing to $180,000 of improvements it had made, including digging a well to supply drinking water, building a power plant, adding landfill to reduce the need for houses on piles, and laying out streets on the island.

[11] Residents disputed the quality of these improvements, however, saying that the tap water was brown and not potable, that their houses had no electricity, and that there were no sewers on the island.

[17][18][19] One such fire, between The Raunt and Broad Channel stations on May 7, 1950, cut service on the middle section of the railroad line.

[26] The next year, the Broad Channel Corporation declared bankruptcy, and the city acquired the island's property titles.

[3]: 58 [27] In May 1944, Broad Channel's 4,000 residents, collectively living in 1,260 homes, secured an injunction that would prevent the city from evicting them by April 30, 1948.

At the time, several homes still dumped sewage into the bay, causing activities like clamming, wading, and swimming to be banned.

[33] The government of New York City finally granted Broad Channel residents the right to purchase their property in 1982.

[34] In 1998, Broad Channel's Labor Day parade received negative media attention after video of a float that parodied the racially motivated dragging death of an African American man was made public.

Three white participants on the float, all city emergency workers, were later fired from their jobs as a result of the parade incident.

[46] Broad Channel remains as one of the New York City neighborhoods most vulnerable to flooding, and had the highest proportion of repeated flood-related insurance claims as of 2018[update].

[47] Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of the combined area of Breezy Point/Belle Harbor/Rockaway Park/Broad Channel was 28,018, an increase of 1,307 (4.9%) from the 26,711 counted in 2000.

[50] A 2014 New York Times article said that many of Broad Channel's several thousand residents were civil servants or emergency workers.

[53] The Q52 and Q53 Select Bus Service routes and QM16 and QM17 express buses along Cross Bay Boulevard also serve Broad Channel.

Cross Bay Boulevard, the island's only through road, traverses the two vehicular bridges, both of which also carry bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

The swimming team participates in the Police Athletic League of New York City and the Catholic Youth Organization.

Ada L. Smith, the New York State Senator representing the district, distributed funds, which the society used to purchase notebooks to record the community's history.

Since June 1995, the society has held Annual Historical Day every year so visitors could look at the collection in the Broad Channel Library.

In 1907, this brigade was formally organized into the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Association under its first Chief, Edward H. Schleuter.

In 1956, then-Deputy Chief Robert H. Russell Sr. added volunteer ambulance services to provide first aid and ambulatory care to the residents of Broad Channel.

Occasionally, the bridge would get stuck in the open position effectively closing Cross Bay Boulevard for extended periods.

Since then, the department took the initiative to require all its firefighters to be New York State Certified in all aspects of the fire service as well as EMS.

Opened on August 21, 2019, Sunset Cove Park is located on 12.57 acres (5.09 ha) of land that was formerly occupied by a marina.

A future construction phase, which will commence in 2021, will include an oyster garden, a dock, and a boardwalk to reach the salt marsh.

In 1987, the Broad Channel Civic Association and Queens Community Board 14 successfully petitioned to rename the playground after Gray.

The wooden play structures in the playground was themed to a nautical fortress, with a bridge designed to look like a sailing ship.