The settlement was initially called Nikentsiake by the Mohawk Indians, translating to "where the fish live.

In 1820, an Army veteran, Captain John Polley, hoping to capitalize on the properties, opened a hotel and began to advertise them.

By 1858, three hotels, numerous rental cottages, a bathing house, and a plant that bottled and sold the spring water, had been built.

However, the British North American government preempted this project by building the Cornwall Canal on the Canadian side of the River, completed in 1843.

This influx of industry workers transformed former health retreat hotels into housing for the burgeoning workforce.

Spanning the St. Lawrence River, the hydropower plant was capable of generating over 900,000 kilowatts of electricity.

Simultaneously, the 1950s witnessed the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a monumental American-Canadian navigational project.

This system of locks and gates facilitated the movement of boats through the river, connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.

With the completion of the Seaway and Power Project, Massena experienced a significant expansion at the Alcoa plant, solidifying its status as the oldest continuously operating aluminum production facility in the Western Hemisphere.

[5] The town suffered natural disasters in the 1944 Cornwall-Massena earthquake and in the January 1998 North American ice storm.

Curran Renewable Energy manufactures wood pellet fuel and mulch in the town.

[citation needed] New York State Route 37, a northeast–southwest highway, passes along the outskirts of the town.

[20] The town had until 1961 been the terminus for New York Central Railroad (NYC) sleeping car passenger service on its St. Lawrence Division; the last sleepers came in from the NYC's Iroquois and the outgoing sleeper fed into the New York Special.

[22][23] Massena was a location featured in Me, Myself & Irene, released in 2000, starring Jim Carrey and Renée Zellweger.