The area was sparsely populated and Slades Green had only 66 people in 1848 but in 1849 the North Kent Line was built. Slades Green gained a National School in 1868 and St Augustine’s Church opened in 1899.
Sladesgreen Farm was the centre of a market gardening area known locally as ’Cabbage Island’ located between Moat Lane (formerly Whitehall Lane) and Slade Green Road.
Slade Green railway station was opened on 1 July 1900 to serve the developing local community following the construction of a rail depot designed to service steam locomotives for South Eastern and Chatham Railway. It was at first called ’Slades Green’ and it was not until 1953 that this was changed to Slade Green.
By 1910 a complete ’railway village’ of 158 houses had been built. The significance of the village had increased by 1905 and that it had absorbed historically important Howbury Manor.
Explosions at a former Trench Warfare Filling Factory caused the death of 13 workers on 19 February 1924. A mass grave at Northumberland Heath stands in memory of the victims. Explosives operations ended in the 1960s.
During the Second World War, Slade Green was subject to a series of air raids, notably the night of 16 April 1941.