Chatswood station opened on 1 January 1890 when the North Shore line opened from Hornsby to St Leonards. An island platform was built on 23 May 1900 and a third dock platform brought into use on 12 July 1919. There was a small goods yard, similar to the one at St Leonards, on the western side of the station, beyond the northern end of the platforms. The dock platform on the eastern side of the station was used for electric parcel-van traffic and also for terminating some services from the city, until these were rescheduled to terminate further along the North Shore line from January 1992. It was removed in October 1994. Until 1958 there was a tram terminus in Victoria Avenue beside the station. The station entrance was later integrated with a shopping centre called The Interchange in the mid-1980s.