In 1435 the city of Hamburg acquired Großhansdorf and administered it as part of its forest villages domain (Walddörfer), consisting of a series of Hamburgian exclaves surrounded by then else Holstein territories.

Hamburg then formed a free imperial city within the Holy Roman Empire.

By 1806 the rotation of arable fields among the resident farming families - as typical within crop rotation - was replaced by coupling fields (German: Verkoppelung) to become fixed particular family properties, which thus could be alienated - such as by sale or compulsory auction - and therefore pledged to secure credits.

In 1872 Groß-Hansdorf (as it was then spelled) and neighbouring Schmalenbeck merged in Groß-Hansdorf-Schmalenbeck, a municipality within the state of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, which then still consisted of the eponymous city and a number of smaller municipalities and towns.

Since 1921 the electric elevated forest villages railway [de], the eastern part of today's U 1 line of Hamburg's underground and elevated railway) is connecting Großhansdorf by three stations (Großhansdorf, Kiekut and Schmalenbeck) with Hamburg.