The original, wooden station was built on the Oude Weg, just outside the Amsterdamse Poort in 1839 to accommodate the passengers of the first railway in the Netherlands between Haarlem and Amsterdam.

[1] The station was built outside the city, on the current location of the Centrale Werkplaats (maintenance depot) of the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij.

[1] Within a few years the new railway turned out to be a great success, and in 1842 a permanent station was built on the current location.

It is the only train station in the Netherlands that is built in Art Nouveau style.

As of 9 December 2018, the following services call at Haarlem: 1300 1300 2100 2200 3400 4800 5400 6300 15400 The scenes in the 2004 film Ocean's Twelve that are meant to portray Amsterdam Centraal station were actually shot on platform 3a at Haarlem station.