Turnham Green serves the historic area known as Bedford Park and finds itself beside Chiswick Common rather than the actual park called Turnham Green.

The station was opened on 1 January 1869 by the London and South Western Railway on a new branch line to Richmond built from a point north of Addison Road station (now Kensington Olympia). The line ran through Shepherd’s Bush and Hammersmith via a now-unused curve and initially the next station towards central London was the now-closed Grove Road station in Hammersmith.

On 1 June 1877, the District Railway opened a short extension from its terminus at Hammersmith to connect to the tracks east of Ravenscourt Park station. The District then began running trains to Richmond.

The service between Richmond, Hammersmith and central London was more direct than the Grove Road route or another route at the time via Clapham Junction. The success of the District Railway’s operations lead it in 1879 to open a branch from Turnham Green to Ealing Broadway.

The tracks were electrified in 1905.

The service between Richmond and Addison Road finished on 3 June 1916, leaving the District as the sole operator.

The London Electric Railway, precursor of the London Underground and owner of the District and Piccadilly lines, began the reconstruction of the tracks between Hammersmith and Acton Town to enable the Piccadilly line to be extended from Hammersmith to Uxbridge and Hounslow West. Services on the Piccadilly line began running through Turnham Green in 1932

To provide a better interchange with the Richmond branch of the District line, in 1963 Piccadilly line trains began stopping at Turnham Green station in the early mornings and late evenings. During the rest of the day they run non-stop through the station as before. It was announced that Turnham Green would be made a permanent stop on the Piccadilly line in 2022.