It was founded in 1871 as Maschinenbau A.G. Humboldt, liquidated due to debts in 1884 and reformed as Maschinenbauanstalt Humboldt A.G.. Its predecessor was a company run by Wimmar Breuer, who had manufactured perforated plate in Kalk since 1853.
To that end, the site of a bankrupt engineering works in Güstrow was procured and, on 24 September 1898, the first steam locomotive was delivered.
On 22 December 1924 a shareholding agreement was concluded with the Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz AG.
On 17 October 1930, Humboldt merged with the Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz to form Humboldt-Deutz-Motoren.
In 1938 the Isselburger Hütte was taken over, and a deal with the Klöckner Werke resulted in the famous name of Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz (KHD).