It is located about 70 km (43 mi) north of the state capital of Magdeburg, halfway between Stendal in the west and Rathenow in the east.

In 1562 the administrator of Havelberg, Joachim III Frederick of Brandenburg, ceded the Schönhausen estates to the Bismarck family from Stendal, who had to swap it against Burgstall in the Altmark.

On 1 April 1815 the later German chancellor Otto von Bismarck was born at Schönhausen I; he nevertheless grew up at his family's estate in Kniephof, Pomerania.

The Communist East German government had the manor of Schönhausen I demolished in 1958, labeling it a symbol of Prussian Junkers and militarism.

The manor of Schönhausen II, previously used as Bismarck museum, became a school in the GDR era; since 2012 it is used as a community center with a registry office, event hall, club rooms, etc.