The station opened in 1889 and is now a Grade II-listed building. The 3.89-mile distance between Chesham and Chalfont & Latimer is the longest distance between two adjacent stations on the Underground network, and at 25 miles northwest of Charing Cross, Chesham is the furthest Underground station from central London. It is both the northernmost and westernmost Underground station.

Chesham station is home to Labyrinth artwork no. 1. The number of each Labyrinth artwork refers to the order of stations visited in the Guinness World Record ‘Tube Challenge’ 2009, the record for the fastest time taken to pass through every single station on the London Underground network. It was completed by Andi James, Martin Hazel and Steve Wilson on 14 December 2009 in 16 hours, 44 minutes and 16 seconds.

There is archaeological evidence that Chesham has been a settlement since 8000 BC. The first recorded reference to Chesham is under the Old English name Cæstæleshamm, meaning ‘the river-meadow at the pile of stones’.