Named after the East India Docks, opened in 1806 with East India Company backing.
Ships trading with the Indian subcontinent docked here, bringing tea, spices, indigo, silk and Persian carpets; the tea trade alone was worth £30 million a year. In 1967 the East India Docks were the first of the London docks to close, and only the entrance basin and listed perimeter wall remain. The station was at first to be called Brunswick Wharf.