The original Black Orpington was bred by William Cook in the 1880s in Orpington, which at that time was in Kent in south-east England. He crossed Minorcas, Langshan's and Plymouth Rocks to create a new hybrid bird. It was bred as a dual-purpose utility chicken, to be reared both for eggs and for meat; Cook chose black as a color that would not show the soot and grime of London.  He was also the breeder of the Orpington Duck.

Black Orpingtons were exhibited at the Dairy Show in Islington in 1886, and also at shows in The Crystal Palace in Sydenham and in Birmingham. A separate show class was created for them in 1888. From the early 1890s, large black Langshan–Cochin crosses were being exhibited and marketed as Orpingtons by Joseph Partington of Lytham in Lancashire and other breeders. These birds were unrelated to Cook's and although similar in appearance, did not have the same productive qualities. They were larger and had fuller feathering, and won numerous prizes at poultry shows; some were sold for very large sums. A bantam buff Orpington was bred by Herman Kuhn in Germany in about 1900.

A breed society, the Orpington Club, was started in 1887. Several clubs were later formed for individual color varieties; in 1975 many of these merged with the Orpington Bantam Club to form a second Orpington Club.

The Australorp of Australia derives from – and resembles – Cook's original black stock and preserves its productive qualities. 

In the United States four colors – black, blue, buff and white – were added to the Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 1960.