The land at Heidelberg was sold by Crown auction in 1838, making it one of the earliest rural allotments in Australia, as Melbourne was founded only three years earlier.

It became a tourist attraction, enhancing Heidelberg's reputation as a desirable place for views, excursions and rural estates.

Cattle overlander Joseph Hawdon built his Gothic Banyule Homestead in 1846,[3] overlooking the Yarra Valley.

Heidelberg's rural scenery attracted artists during the 1880s, due to the absence of public utilities or a railway (until 1888), causing houses to be vacant, and available at low rents.

[citation needed] Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin and other members of the Box Hill artists' camp relocated to Eaglemont in 1888, forming what was subsequently named the "Heidelberg School" of Australian art.

Subdivision and settlement clustered around Heidelberg Road and the Melbourne to Hurstbridge railway line, which bisected the municipality in a generally north-east direction.

The shopping areas were mostly strips, but a free-standing centre was built in Heidelberg West in 1956, to a design by the Housing Commission which drew on American trends.

The Heidelberg Old Cemetery, the size of a house block near the corner of St James Road and Hawdon Street, contains graves dating to 1852.

It had become rundown in the 1980s, but a new supermarket, and many trendy cafes have made the area much more liveable; as a result, house prices have increased dramatically.

Over $1 million has been spent over the last 7 years to upgrade the infrastructure of the Precinct e.g. Aerial bundling of overhead power lines, resurfacing of the footpaths and roadways, installation of trees, seating, bollards, bike racks and rubbish bins and painting of all street furniture in the Precinct to 'Burgundy' to suggest the boundaries of the retail strip.

The centre serves a well defined main trade area population of approximately 41,000 residents from the established suburbs of Heidelberg, Viewbank, Rosanna, Ivanhoe and Eaglemont.

Heidelberg railway station is located in the suburb, on the Hurstbridge line and served by Metro Trains Melbourne.

[14] Heidelberg United is an Association football club based in the suburb, which competes in the Victorian Premier League and plays second tier to the A-League.

Golfers play at the course of the Heidelberg Golf Club on Main Road in the neighbouring suburb of Lower Plenty.