The station was opened on 31 March 1858 by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway on a new more direct route from Fenchurch Street to Barking.

The large Edwardian station building was constructed to accommodate the electric District Railway services on an additional set of tracks opened in 1905.

Prior to the building of the line trains took a longer route via Stratford and Forest Gate to the north.

[8] The District line was electrified in 1905 over a second pair of tracks, and the service was cut back from Upminster to East Ham; the station then served as the eastern terminus, where passengers transferred to steam trains, until 1908 when electrification was extended to Barking.

A disused bay platform on the northern side of the station, closed in 1958, connected to the Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway (now the Gospel Oak to Barking line) via a curve.