It is reputed that the name derived from a pub that stood at the centre of the town, then known as Wait Lane End, where the stage-coach horses waited to change places with the team that pulled the coach up and over Portsdown Hill. The pub had been named Heroes of Waterloo because, on its opening day, in 1815, soldiers who had just disembarked at Portsmouth, returning from the Battle of Waterloo, decided to stop there and celebrate their victory. According to local legend, many of them settled there. The pub was thereafter renamed in their honour and the area around the pub became known as Waterloo. In order to differentiate the town from other places with the same name, it became known as Waterlooville at a later date. The town was known as Waterloo parish at the time of the 1911 Census.

The original "Heroes" pub was at a crossroads near the main bus-stop. It was demolished in 1966 and replaced with a bank; a new pub took the same name and is located at the northern end of the shopping precinct. There are two other pubs in the town centre: The Wellington closed in May 2017 and the site was redeveloped as a cocktail bar, called Number 73, which opened in March 2018. Other pubs are The Denmead Queen, part of the JD Wetherspoon pub chain.

In June 2015 Waterlooville town celebrated its first 200 years, its origins and history in a festival called Waterlooville 200.

The town centre was closed to traffic in 1985 when a bypass was constructed to take traffic away from the main shopping area. The bypass, initially anonymous, was named Maurepas Way sometime after the two towns were twinned in 1995. An underpass was constructed for pedestrians walking up along the Hambledon road. Between 1982 and 1983 the old road was then fully converted to a pedestrian precinct. The precinct had a fountain and raised area at the northern end, near the Heroes pub; however, regular vandalism of the fountain soon resulted in its removal.

GEC Marconi built a site at Waterlooville for their Underwater Systems Division in the early 1980s, for the Stingray anti-submarine torpedo. A peace camp was set up near the construction site. After completion of the GEC building, a free music festival was held at Old Park Farm in Waterlooville called Torpedo Town. A second Torpedo Town festival was held in August 1987 at Bramdean Common near Winchester.

Near the town centre is St George's Church, rebuilt in 1968-70 around the core of the original (1830) church. Waterlooville Baptist Church was built in 1967 in a Modernist style to replace the original chapel of 1884–85 in the town centre. During the 1950s and 1960s the surrounding area saw extensive growth in housing, when large suburban public and private housing estates were constructed. This resulted in the original Victorian church failing to cope with the population growth. Plans for a new church were started and in 1970 the new church was built on the site of the old church. Parts of the old church were retained.

In July 2011 the town saw the consecration of its first Roman Catholic Church. For the preceding eighty years the growing Catholic community in the town had utilised at first one aisle of, and ultimately the entire of the chapel at St Michaels convent. However the decision of the sisters of Our Lady of Charity to sell the main convent site coupled with the inadequate capacity led to a new church being required. The new church which is dedicated to "The Sacred Heart of Jesus and St Peter the Apostle" sits to the north of the town centre on London Road.

In August 2012 the northern part of the shopping centre underwent a £700,000 renovation, the raised area holding the former fountain was removed and new block paving installed. The renovation increased the area available to the weekly Friday market and improved pedestrian accessibility. In addition a "smoking-shelter" style band-stand was installed at pedestrian T-junction with The Boulevard.

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