It forms one of a set of public parks established in Norwich in the 1930s by Captain Arnold Sandys-Winsch that were built by unemployed men using government funding.

When the redesigned park was opened in 1933, it was considered to be the finest in East Anglia, with a pavilion in the style of Moderne architecture, a bandstand, sports facilities, gardens and a children's playground.

The layout of Waterloo Park has remained largely unaltered since the 1930s, although changes have since been made to the original children's garden, the bowling greens and most of the grass tennis courts.

[3] In 1911, a proposal was made by the manufacturer Edwards & Holmes to build a shoe factory on part of the land occupied by the park, an idea which never went past the application stage.

[1] Completed and opened to the public in 1933, it was the last of a series of parks to be designed by Sandys-Winsch, at a cost of £37,000;[6][7][note 2] at the time it was "considered to be one of the finest in East Anglia".

[1][9] By the time he retired in 1956,[7] he had helped to create 600 acres (240 ha) of urban parks and open spaces in Norwich, and was instrumental in the planting of 20,000 trees in the city.

[17] In 2015, Norwich City Council resolved to deal with problems with the water-damaged roof of Waterloo Park's pavilion by spending £210,000 on repairs that year, and £40,000 during 2016/17.

[19] In 2017, after the main repairs had been completed, the restored pavilion was reopened as a café, as part of an enterprise to assist low-risk prisoners and ex-offenders to gain work experience.

After Britannia Enterprises went into liquidation in August 2019, the café was threatened with closure; it was closed in January 2020 after a new manager was unable to continue running the establishment.

A spokesperson for the council revealed that it intended "to return the café up to its top standard, so a new tenant can breathe life back into it and the doors can once again be opened for the community to enjoy".

The park has a children's playground, hardcourt tennis courts, open areas once used to play cricket and hockey matches, and toilet facilities.

According to Ismail, this type of planting is a return to the ideas of the gardener William Robinson and the horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll, and is "completely at one with the period during which the [Norwich] parks were created".