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Ormond Beach fell within the domain of the Timucuan Indians, although war and disease would decimate the tribe. Their local fortified village was called "Nocoroco," believed to have been located at the present-day site of Tomoka State Park. The city is named for James Ormond I, an Anglo-Irish-Scotch sea captain commissioned by King Ferdinand VII of Spain to bring Franciscan settlers to this part of Florida. Captain James Ormond had served Britain and Spain in the Napoleonic Wars as a ships captain. He was later rewarded for his services to Spain, by King Ferdinand VII of Spain. Later Ormond worked for the Scottish Indian trade company of Panton, Leslie & Company, and his armed brig was called the Somerset. In 1821, Florida was acquired by the United States from Spain. Following the Second Seminole War, which lasted from 1835 until 1842, Ormond Beach began to become a permanent settlement.
 
After the Civil War, Florida experienced a boom in tourism. With its hard, white beach, Ormond became popular. In 1875, the city was founded as "New Britain" by settlers from New Britain, Connecticut. It would be incorporated in 1880 as "Ormond," the year The Hotel Ormond was built. The St. Johns & Halifax Railroad arrived in 1886, and the first bridge across the Halifax River was created in 1887. Henry Flagler bought and expanded The Hotel Ormond in 1889 to accommodate 600 guests. It would be one in a series of hotels for northern tourists traveling his Florida East Coast Railway, which had extended service to Ormond that year by purchasing the St. Johns & Halifax Railroad. Once a well-known landmark, the hotel was razed in 1992.
 
The Upper Tomoka in c. 1905One of Flagler's guests at The Hotel Ormond would be his former business partner at the Standard Oil Company. John D. Rockefeller arrived in 1914, and after four seasons at the hotel bought The Casements. It would be Rockefeller's winter home during the latter part of his life. Sold by his heirs in 1939, it was purchased by the city in 1973, and now serves as its cultural center. It is the community's best-known historical structure. Beginning in 1902, some of the first automobile races were held on the compacted sand from Ormond south to Daytona Beach. Pioneers in the industry tested their inventions, and the area earned the nickname, "The Birthplace of Speed." Driving on the beach is still permitted on some stretches of the beach. The city would be renamed "Ormond Beach" in 1949.
 
Notable citizens of Ormond Beach include Joseph Wuamett and former major league baseball umpire Harry Wendelstedt.