Vintonia is one on the oldest industrial suburbs of Nelspruit. When the rail road was built, a subway had to be built in order not to cut of Vintonia from the rest of the town.
Nelspruit was founded in 1895 by three brothers of the Nel family who grazed their cattle around the site of Nelspruit during the winter months. During the Boer War, Nelspruit served briefly as the seat of government for the South African Republic (not to be confused with the Republic of South Africa, an independent Boer republic. The leadership of the South African Republic included Paul Kruger.
The settlement was a key stopover for the Eastern railway built in the late 19th century which ran from the newly discovered Witwatersrand goldfields to Delgoa Bay (modern day Maputo) in Portuguese East Africa (modern day Mozambique).
The discovery of gold in the region at places like Pilgrim's Rest and Barberton, Mpumalanga further spurred on development.
Nelspruit and the surrounding area contain San art.
In October 2009, the South African government attempted to rename the city "Mbombela" the same name as the local municipality of which it is part. The Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (LCBT) approached the High Court as a result of this name change. According to LCBT, members of the public were not consulted before the name change took place. As of November 2013 the High Court has reserved judgment in the case of changing the name, the government department responsible has stated that they will not proceed with the name change until the court has made its decision. The city is still referred to as Nelspruit, and all road signs indicate the city as Nelspruit