[1] The origins of White Water trace back to a small group of settlers in southern Butler County, Ohio, who gathered together as Shakers in 1822, possibly earlier.

In 1823, the members of three prominent Butler County families joined, and this community (which had no formal name) moved to a larger farm.

The newly gathered Believers were joined in 1824 by the Darby Plain Shakers, whose former New Light and Farnhamite preacher, Nathan Burlingame, was the first to arrive at White Water from that abandoned central Ohio community.

In 1825, however, the Shakers were able to purchase 215 acres (0.87 km2) of good land for a mill seat on the Dry Fork of the Whitewater River, and the new community moved again to the site of the White Water North Family.

The Shakers would purchase additional land and establish a third family in the 1850s, and they remained a vibrant community into the 1880s when the long, slow decline began.

After 30 years of decline and a change in leadership, in 1911 the Union Village ministry decided to lease the South, Center, and North Family farms.

December 4, 1916, marked the final land sale and the departure of Elder Andrew Barrett and Eldress Mary Gass.

In 1991, the Great Parks of Hamilton County District purchased much of the remaining White Water buildings and land.