The station was originally opened as Budleigh, on the Budleigh Salterton Railway (BSR), which branched from the Sidmouth Railway at Tipton St John. The station was renamed East Budleigh in 1898. The London and South Western Railway, which worked the BSR, did not name the station after the nearby village of Otterton to avoid confusion with its Otterham station on the North Cornwall line.
Passenger and freight services were withdrawn in 1967
