Originally opened in 1858 as part of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, the large station building was constructed to accommodate the new electric District Railway (now District line) services, which opened in 1905. Much of the original Victorian station architecture has been retained, despite some restoration work in 2005.

The station has two platforms, one for each direction.

The area named Ham, from Old English ‘hamm’, which means ‘a dry area of land between rivers or marshland’, refers to the location of the settlement within boundaries formed by the rivers Lea, Thames and Roding and their marshes.