Auburn valley was originally the home of the Skopamish, Smalhkamish, and Stkamish Indian tribes. The first settlers in the region were explorers and traders who arrived in the 1830s. The White River tribes collectively became known as the Muckleshoot tribe and new treaty provided the establishment of the Muckleshoot Reservation, which is the reservation within the boundaries of King County. In 1891 Auburn was incorporated as "Slaughter," named after William Slaughter, who died in an Indian skirmish in 1855, the main hotel in town was called the "Slaughter House." In 1893, a large group of settlers from Auburn, New York moved to Slaughter, and renamed the town to "Auburn." There are several locations in Auburn on the National and State Registers of Historic Places, such as the Neely Mansion.

Nestled in a fertile river valley, Auburn has been both a farm community and a center of business and industry for more than 150 years. Auburn had been a bustling center for hop farming until 1890 when the crops were destroyed by aphids, which gave dairy and berry farms a start. Valley flooding was still a problem for Auburn farmers up until the Howard Hanson Dam was built in 1962. This dam on the Green River, along with the Mud Mountain Dam on the White River, provided controlled river management, which left the valley nearly flood-free.

The Northern Pacific Railroad put a rail line through town in 1883, but it was the Seattle-Tacoma Interurban line that allowed easy access to both cities starting in 1902. The Interurban allowed farmers to get their product to the markets within hours after harvest. The railroad, along with better roads, caused many new companies to set up business in Auburn, among them the Borden Condensery and the Northern Clay Company.

The postwar era was prosperous to Auburn, bringing more businesses and a community college to the city. In 1963, The Boeing Company built a large facility to mill sheet metal skin for jet airliners. Industry and Auto Density forced farms to disappeared as the land was converted to auto parking lots. In 1995, The Supermall of the Great Northwest was built in the valley, enticing fossil fuel motorist from all over the Puget Sound region to make Auburn a smog pollution traffic congested area.