The town was laid out in 1816, and named after Viscount Mandeville, the eldest son of the Duke of Manchester, who was then governor of Jamaica.
Many of the original buildings can still be seen such as the courthouse, an impressive building of cut limestone with a horseshoe staircase and a raised portico supported by Doric columns and built in 1820. The oldest dwelling is the rectory beside the courthouse, also built in 1820.
Many of Jamaica's oldest businesses were started in Mandeville; the Mandeville Hotel, one of the oldest in the Caribbean, began operations in 1875. Its golf club, founded as the Manchester Golf Club in 1868, was the first golf course in the Caribbean. The first "free library" in Jamaica was established in 1938, and is the oldest Parish Library.
The growth of the town was given a substantial stimulus when the Alcan Bauxite Company in a joint venture with the Jamaican Government opened its Kirkvine works nearby at Williams field in 1957. It built houses at Mandeville for its then mostly expatriate staff. The relatively high wages lured many educated Jamaicans there. Subsequently the town has seen an influx of Jamaican residents returning from abroad
