The station was designed in Swiss chalet style by Balthazar Lange and was wedged between the town and the Oslofjord.

200,000 people traveled on the line, and the station saw a peak thirteen daily services during the 1940.

There were a large number of proposals for which route the Vestfold Line should follow, while it was being planned during the late 1860s and early 1870s.

Part of the reason for the towns importance was that it hosted Karljohansvern, the main base of the Royal Norwegian Navy.

[1] The route issue was not settled until Parliament chose the "compromise coastal alternative" on 8 June 1875, in which the Vestfold Line bypassed Horten, but a branch was to be built from Skoppum.

[11] NSB gradually increased its focus on bus traffic on the route, reducing the number of train services to five from 1962.

Designed in Swiss chalet style, Horten was among the larger station in Vestfold, as it among other duties had to act as a port of entry.

[12] It is physically placed between the town and the fjord, originally on a parcel of land so small that it could only house two through tracks and two spurs.