The township was founded in 1931 and named after Edwin Orlando Leake, mayor of Johannesburg from 1925 to 1926.

The township of Orlando was directly involved in some of the most important events of the fight against the apartheid system.

Some of the most dramatic clashes between the South African police and anti-apartheid demonstrators occurred in Orlando West.

The Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum was established in Orlando West to commemorate those events.

South African struggle activist and politician Winnie Madikizela-Mandela resided in Soweto during the apartheid era until her death on 2 April 2018.