The original 1833 route from Widnes Dock through the town (along with the branch from St Helens Junction) and onwards to Rainford Junction (opened along with the station in 1858) was joined a decade later by the Lancashire Union Railway to Wigan North Western and Blackburn in December 1869, whilst the route southwestwards to Huyton was opened by the London and North Western Railway in 1871.

The station was completely rebuilt in 1961[1] to a design by the architect William Robert Headley[2] which included and advertised a significant amount of the local Pilkington Vitrolite Glass.

By this time, the original St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway routes had both closed to passenger traffic, services having ceased on 18 June 1951.

The short branch to St Helens Junction suffered the same fate in June 1965 as a result of the Beeching Axe, though freight traffic would continue to operate on both lines until the 1980s.

An accident occurred on 11 November 1988, when a train from Blackpool North to Liverpool Lime Street became derailed after it departed from St Helens Central at 23:15.

Leaving the station, the driving cab struck a bridge abutment; the driver was killed and 16 passengers received minor injuries.

[7] Earlier, modifications to the adjacent bridgeworks were undertaken in 2012 and during 2014 electrification masts and new signals were installed, overhead wiring taking place in early 2015.

In March 2012, a dedicated coffee shop serving hot and cold food was opened upstairs in the main station building but closed in September 2012, the franchise remaining vacant up to the present.