The station was opened in 1847 as part of the trunk line of the former Cologne-Minden Railway Company. The first station building at its present location—a simple half-timbered building and loading facility—was named after the nearby Schloss Oberhausen and opened on 15 May 1847. It was the first station on the territory of the former Bürgermeisterei of Borbeck; the city of Oberhausen did not exist at this time. The station initially serviced the developing heavy industry, centred on the Gutehoffnungshütte steel works. The entrepreneur Franz Haniel had influence with the Prussian government and the railway company and gained a rail connection to the Lipper heath, now central Oberhausen. After the opening of the station as the company relocated the Altenberg zinc smelter near to the station. In 1850, the administration of the Zeche Concordia colliery was established in the station building. In 1854, a more elaborate station building was erected. In 1866, the entrance building of the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company station was built only a few metres away. Other railway companies and new lines were built subsequently. Until 1880, Oberhausen has become one of the most important railway junctions in the Ruhr area. In the wake of the nationalisation of the Prussian railways in the early 1880s, lines were connected and central stations were established where possible. The Bergisch-Märkische and Cologne-Minden stations were merged in 1888 into a prestigious new station with tunnels connecting the platforms. Between 1930 and 1934, the current station building was built in the modernist style. Oberhausen architect Schwingel and supervisor of the Deutsche Reichsbahnrailway division of Essen, Karl Herrmann, designed the current building in simple cubic forms. In the Second World War, the station was repeatedly hit by bombs and shells and heavily damaged. The entrance hall building was only restored to operation in 1954 in a heavily modified form, with the Bali-Kino cinema above a false ceiling and a small shopping arcade. As part of a project called Internationale Bauausstellung Emscher Park, Oberhausen station and its environs were completely renovated and redecorated in 1993. The entrance hall was extensively restored to its original form and the cinema and the shopping arcade were removed. The platform tracks were reduced from 14 to 10. The disused railway mail terminal was demolished and that area along with the former platform of tracks 4 and 5 were converted into the platform of the LVR Industrial Museum Oberhausen. The Die drei Lebensalter relief by Ernst Müller Blensdorf was returned to the station. The pedestrian tunnel under the railway tracks was modernised and extended to an entrance on the western side. The headquarters of the Landschaftsverband Rheinland, opened in 1997, and the western district thus receive direct access from the station. The reconstruction also included the redesign of the station forecourt with a central bus terminal and the construction of a park and ridecar park on the western side.
