The station was first announced in October 1983 to be part of Phase II of the MRT system as Corporation station. However, in September 1984, it was renamed to Lakeside to tentatively reflect
its location better. Several joint ventures between companies were prequalified for Contract 404 by May 1985, which detailed the construction of a viaduct from Jurong to Lakeside stations, including Lakeside. Ultimately, the contract was awarded to a joint venture between the
Aoki Corporation and Lim Kim Ngah Construction for $64.75 million in November 1985 while the subcontract for the supply of post-tension cables and pre-cast beams during the construction of the viaducts was awarded to Swiss-Singaporean company VSL Systems in July 1986. The contract for the design of the station's Chinese-style roof was awarded to Parson Brinckerhoff Asia Ltd and Maunsell Consultants in September 1985 as a part of a $3.6 million contract to give the Phase II MRT stations an "ethnic touch". A week before the opening, there was an open house event for the Jurong stretch of the EWL, which included Lakeside station. The station was opened on 5 November 1988 as part of the first portion of Phase II of the MRT system. A primary
school band performed in the station as a part of the opening ceremony. After its opening, there was an issue with the station; the lack of an orderly taxi system. It was reported that many commuters would engage in queue-cutting as well as taxis haphazardly stopping in the middle of the road to pick up commuters and motorists picking up/dropping off people at the station's entrance despite there being a designated pick-up point at Yuan Ching Road. The issue was promptly fixed by relocating the taxi stand from Yuan Ching Road to the main entrance of the station in June 1990. By July, Lakeside, along with two other stations, had its bicycle facilities expanded as part of the Cycle-and-ride scheme. Lakeside station was the first batch of ten stations announced in 2010 to have additional bicycle parking facilities as a response to the growing demand of bicycle parking spots. The installation was completed in October 2012. As with most of the above-ground stations built in the past along the
East–West Line, it was built without
platform screen doors. ollowing a rise in track intrusions as well as commuters slipping when rushing for the train, the
LTA and
SMRT decided to install platform screen doors, where it was expected for the works to be completed by 2012. Contract C1320 for the design and installation of half-height platform screen doors was awarded to Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited in September 2008 for . After several tests at
Jurong East,
Yishun and
Pasir Ris stations, works for the half-height platform screen doors were expected to start in 2010, with eventual installation and operations commencing at Chinese Garden station by August 2011.
High-volume low-speed fans were installed and commenced operation by the first quarter of 2013.
Noise barriers were installed on the viaducts from Lakeside MRT station to Corporation Road by CKT Thomas Pte Ltd as part of $17 million contract awarded in January 2015 to reduce sounds generated by trains. It was installed by 2018. A
cycling path connecting to this station was opened in October 2021 as a part of a cycling route in
Taman Jurong. ==Station details==