The station was opened on 17 December 1906 as the northern terminus of Line 5 from Place d'Italie, replacing the temporary terminus of Quai de la Rapée, before the line was extended to Gare du Nord on 15 November 1907.

The current name refers to the Place Jacques Bonsergent, named after Jacques Bonsergent, an engineer who became the first Parisian (and possibly first French) civilian executed by the German occupation in 1940.

Bonsergent was born at Malestroit, in 1912 and was condemned to death by a German military tribunal on 5 December 1940 after being accused, and found guilty, of an act of violence against German soldiers during the night of 10 November.

The execution was carried out on 23 December 1940 at the Bois de Vincennes; the commanding officer was Général Otto von Stülpnagel.

The advertising frames are metallic, and the station name is written both in Parisine typeface and in capital letters on enamelled plates.