The Mount Waverley area, then part of the Parish of Mulgrave, was divided by straight roads running north–south and east–west, each exactly one mile apart, by Assistant Surveyor Eugene Bellairs, in 1853.

Due to the onset of the Great Depression, the building of houses on the suburb's earliest estates did not commence in earnest until the early 1950s.

According to Lachlan Bath, president of the Ashburton Historical Society, the suburb's streets had been laid down, but no houses were built; merely a row of "cardboard boxes" housed the first few residents who had migrated east from the "slums of Ashburton to enjoy a better standard of living", only to be bitterly disappointed with the estate agents who promised milk and honey but instead delivered a mosquito infested swamp.

[6] Close to Mount Waverley Village are the suburb's first streets, once designed to become the very epitome of prestigious country estate living and an extravagant idea decades ahead of its time.

Sherwood Park was part of the prestigious Glen Alvie estate that sought to form country club type living to Waverley.

This fertile land had been dairy farm – Ayrshire-Jersey cross cows, with some pigs, a plum and apple orchard, and stock feed crops – canola, maize and lucerne (alfalfa).

These were to be laid out adjacent to Sherwood Park, a huge central area, lined with date palms that are still seen today.

Council intended to charge an extra rate to residents of the estate to cover the huge loan of building these concrete streets.

Over many years, Mount Waverley has held an annual Christmas Carols event, which has featured many local performers.

The large trader-supported event ceased to run from 2010, with the City of Monash preferring to put its main support behind the annual Carols by Candlelight in Jells Park.

Since 2012 a smaller-scale event called Carols in the Village has been organised by the Mount Waverley Council of Churches, with mostly local performers.

Mount Waverley is the home to numerous electronics and IT companies and the area is a hub of these industries in Melbourne.

The Holy Family Catholic Church is located on Stephensons Road and has Korean and Indonesian services.

The club also run a full program of junior cricket which includes having a team in the VSDCA's RM Hatch competition and nine under age sides playing on turf and synthetic wickets.

In season 2008–2009 the senior team won their most recent SDCCL Menzies Shield,[14] which is the competitions highest grade.

From 2015 to 2019, Concrete Concepts Pty Ltd, a construction company, polluted a site next to Syndal South Primary School.