High Barnet station, though planned by the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway), was originally opened on 1 April 1872 by the Great Northern Railway (which had taken over). It was the terminus of a branch line that ran from Highgate and was built over the original site of the Barnet Fair.
The High Barnet branch was incorporated into the London Underground network through the "Northern Heights" project begun in the late 1930s. High Barnet station was first served by Northern line trains on 14 April 1940.
The area was the site of the Battle of Barnet in 1471, where Yorkist troops led by King Edward IV killed the rebellious "Kingmaker" Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and Warwick’s brother, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu.