Japanese Government Railways (JGR) opened the station on 1 November 1911 as the southern terminus of its then which it had been extending southwards in phases since 1907 when it had acquired the former Kyushu Railway's private track from south to . Ōita became a through-station on 1 April 1914 when the track was extended further south to . On 15 December 1923, this entire stretch of track was redesignated as the
Nippo Main Line. Separately, on 1 April 1914, JGR opened the from Ōita westwards to . This track later linked up with another built eastwards from and the entire stretch was designated as the
Hōhi Main Line on 2 December 1928. The origin of the third line to serve the station, the
Kyudai Main Line lay with the private which opened a track from Ōita westwards to on 30 October 1915. On 1 December 1922, the Daito Railway was nationalized and JGR designated this stretch of track as the Daito Line. By 1934, the track had linked up with a track built eastwards from and the entire route was designated the
Kyudai Main Line. With the privatization of
Japanese National Railways (JNR), the successor of JGR, on 1 April 1987, Ōita came under the control of JR Kyushu. ==Passenger statistics==