Chiswick grew up as a fishing village around St. Nicholas church on Church Street, but the name Chiswick later became used for a wider area, formed originally by merging the four villages of Chiswick, Strand-on-the-Green, Little Sutton and Turnham Green. By 1815 Chiswick parish included all the area bounded by the loop of the Thames, the High Road west of Turnham Green, the north side of Chiswick Common and Bath Road to Goldhawk Road. In 1896, “Bedford Park, Chiswick” was advertised, extending the area still further. Chiswick Past now “takes the slight liberty” of adopting the W4 postal area as the definition of Chiswick.

For centuries fishermen and watermen have used the waterfront of old Chiswick to deliver goods to riverside businesses and the surrounding area. By the early nineteenth century the fishing industry in and around Chiswick was declining as the growth of industry and the invention of the flush toilet were causing pollution in the river. Fish began to die out and the river became unsuitable as a spawning ground. Locks upstream also made the river unsuitable for migratory fish such as salmon and shad.

From the 18th century onwards the High Road became built up with inns and large houses. Today the High Road is a busy shopping street with many cafes, restaurants and several 19th century public houses.

In 1822, the Royal Horticultural Society leased 33 acres of land in the area between the now Sutton Court Road and Duke’s Avenue. This site was used for its fruit tree collection and its first school of horticulture, and housed its first flower shows. The area was reduced to 10 acres in the 1870s, and the lease was terminated when the Society’s garden at Wisley, Surrey, was set up in 1904. Some of the original pear trees still grow in the gardens of houses built on the site.

Chiswick had two well-known theatres in the twentieth century. The Chiswick Empire (1912 to 1959) was at 414 Chiswick High Road. It had 4,000 seats, and staged music hall entertainment, plays, review, opera, ballet and an annual Christmas pantomime. The Q Theatre (1924 to 1959) was a small theatre opposite Kew Bridge station. It staged the first works of Terrence Rattigan and William Douglas-Home and many of its plays went on to the West End.

Dukes Meadows stands on land formerly owned by the Dukes of Devonshire. In the 1920s the Duke sold them to the local council, which developed the land as a recreational centre. A promenade and bandstand were built, and the meadows are still used for sport with a rugby club, football pitches, hockey club, several rowing clubs and a golf club. In recent years a local conservation charity, the Dukes Meadows Trust has undertaken extensive restoration work, which saw a long term project of a Children's water play area opened in August 2006.

Chiswick is the birthplace of the modern domestic violence refuge movement, with the first shelter established by Erin Pizzey in 1971.

During World War 2, Chiswick suffered a number of bombing raids. W.P. Roe’s book  pages 80 to 90 notes areas of damage due to 50 bombing raids in late 1940 to early 1941, and another 5 in 1944. Both incendiary and high explosive bombs were used, and there was also damage from falling anti-aircraft shells that had not exploded as intended. From June 1944, V-1 flying bombs started to fall; Mr. Roe lists 14 of these. Chiswick is also known for being the site where the first V-2 Rocket to hit London fell in September 1944, killing three people and causing extensive damage to surrounding trees and buildings. There is a memorial where the rocket fell on Staveley Road. There is also a War Memorial at the east end of Turnham Green.