Initially opened as Church Street, the station was given its current name of East Richmond on 1 January 1867.

[4] East Richmond station was opened by the Melbourne & Suburban Railway Company, when its service to Hawthorn began on 24 September 1860.

A level crossing was formerly located at Green Street, near the up end of the station, which was removed on 12 March 1965 and replaced with a pedestrian subway,[4] along with the associated signal box.

[4] The 2010/2011 state budget allocated $83.7 million to upgrade East Richmond to a premium station, along with nineteen others.

Its location at the city end of Melbourne's busiest group of railway lines means that a large number of services pass through the station, but only a limited number stop there, largely because of its proximity to Richmond, a few hundred metres away in Swan Street.