The station was opened on 15 May 1847 on the
trunk line of the former
Cologne-Minden Railway Company (Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME). under the name of
Essen CM. It and
Essen-Bergeborbeck are the oldest stations in modern Essen. A railway association was founded in 1841 by the community of Essen to persuade the Cologne-Minden Railway Company to move its proposed route further south to run through Essen. Even the offer of a subsidy of 2,000
Prussian thalers failed to persuade the CME to change its route because it wanted to avoid hills where possible, running roughly along the course of the
Emscher. As a result of this rejection, the city of Essen later spent over 16,000 thalers to establish a road connecting to Altenessen station. Until the establishment of
Essen BM (
Bergisch-Märkische) station (which later became
Essen Hauptbahnhof) in 1862, Altenessen station served as Essen station. The freight sector was of particular importance to the station, especially the transport of coal from numerous mines in the two communities. In 1872, the station was renamed
Altenessen. A line opened in 1880, connecting this station to
Essen BM, which was renamed
Essen Hauptbahnhof in 1897. In addition, connections existed to
Essen-Nord (renamed
Essen Rh in 1885 after its builder, the
Rhenish Railway Company) and
Essen-Segeroth station, which since 1868 had also been called
Essen CM and
Essen-Altenessen Rheinisch station (
Altenessen Rh, from 1912). After the incorporation of Altenessen in Essen in 1915, the Altenessen station was renamed
Essen-Altenessen in 1920. By 1887 the tracks were at ground level, with a nearby level crossing over Essen-Horster Strasse, now Altenessener Strasse. The approximately 170–180 trains running per day (not including shunting) meant that the crossing was closed for up to seven hours each day. That made it necessary to rebuild the station, the street and the line. Altenessener Strasse was lowered by 2.64 meters, while the rail lines were raised and three bridges were built. The bridge over Altenessener Strasse and Lierfeldstraße on the line to Stoppenberg was opened on 30 September 1901. The bridge over Altenessener Strasse on the main line was opened on 10 November 1901.
The Second World War and later In the Second World War there was a slave labour camp of the
railway division (
Reichsbahndirektion) of Essen/Ruhr at the station for 27 French prisoners. Heavy air raids in October 1944 destroyed the railway tracks, stopping train operations run through Altenessen. Several bombs also hit the station. The station was renovated in 1999, following the demolition of the station building. ==Current services==