the station first opened on june 15, 1898 as mishima station on the original route of the tōkaidō main line under the japanese government railways. it was renamed shimo-togari station on october 1, 1934 shortly before the opening of the tanna tunnel created a more direct route from to and led to the creation of a new mishima station further south. jgr became the japanese national railways (jnr) from 1946. regularly scheduled freight operations were suspended from 1982. along with privatization and division of jnr, jr central started operating the station from april 1, 1987.