The area has been in use by
First Nations, known as the Long Spear people, as far back as 7000 BC. A school, health centre and the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police followed, and as part of the
Canol Road project the
United States Army Corps of Engineers built a runway on
Vale Island in the Hay River delta. In 1948 the
Government of Canada built a gravel road, now the
Mackenzie Highway, from
Grimshaw, Alberta to Hay River, making it the first community in the NWT to be linked with southern Canada. In 1959, the
Northern Transportation Company Limited located their main base in Hay River and over the years developed the facilities. Today the base is the major staging point for the annual
sealift along the
Mackenzie River, via
Inuvik and
Tuktoyaktuk and the communities of the
Arctic Ocean, as far east as
Taloyoak,
Nunavut and west to
Utqiagvik, Alaska. In 1963, Vale Island, the historical location of the town, was severely flooded. As a response, the town was moved to the new location upstream. By 1964, as part of the
Pine Point Mine development, the
Mackenzie Northern Railway was constructed. Ice jams built up in two channels, and combined with a wide-ranging storm system, and already waterlogged ground resulted in a larger than normal flood. Hay River also flooded in 1963, On 25 August 2023 the entire town population was ordered to evacuate by the government of the Northwest Territories due to the
2023 Canadian wildfires. ==Services==