The city was founded in the year of 1880 by the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cronenberg and Ronsdorf – each with its own football club.

This club took part in the early rounds of the national finals in 1930–31 and went on to play in the Gauliga Niederrhein, one of sixteen top-flight divisions formed in the 1933 re-organization of German football under the Third Reich, for two seasons in 1936–37 and 1937–38.

They returned to first tier football in 1941 and earned a strong third-place finish, but left the division part way through the 1942–43 season because they were unable to continue to field a full side as a result of wartime manpower shortages.

After World War II, TSG Vohwinkel emerged as the stronger side and took up play in the first division Oberliga West in 1947 where they would compete until being relegated after a 14th-place finish in 1950.

Oberliga West (II) through the early 1950s, SSV under the guidance of coach Fritz Szepan, one-time star of Schalke 04 which had dominated German football from the mid-1930s to the mid-1940s.

The union of the two associations that created "Wuppertaler SV" in 1954 paid almost immediate dividends as the combined side vaulted to the top and captured the division title in 1954–55.

Wuppertal's return to the Oberliga was less successful despite the presence of players such as rising star Horst Szymaniak and Austria's international Erich Probst.

Although they had a poor regular season, the team enjoyed a good DFB-Pokal run, advancing to the semi-finals where they lost a closely fought match (0–1) to first division side and eventual cup winners Hamburger SV before a record hometown crowd of 40,000.

The only bright spot of this poor campaign was a 3–1 victory over the Bayern Munich side built around Franz Beckenbauer that dominated European football at the time.

While "Borussia" quickly developed into a competitive side, they were not financially strong enough to support their ambition and joined forces with WSV in hopes of returning the city to football prominence.

In the 2007–08 DFB-Pokal (German Cup) tournament, Wuppertaler SV reached the Round of 16 after beating Erzgebirge Aue (4–3 on penalties) and Hertha BSC Berlin (2–0).