The history of Halfmoon Bay is touched by First Nation and European culture and heritage. The Halfmoon Bay area was original the home of the Coast Salish people, specifically the Shishalh First Nation people. Evidence has been recovered and protected or has been left in its place as part of the landscape like the shell middens, rock shelters and stone fish traps.

The first European to start living in the area was Frederick Sargeant, hence the name Sargeant Bay Park. He started farming the area in late 1800s building dams and flooding fields. Eventually he built a steam sawmill at the mouth of Colvin Creek to log his land. Frederick Sargeant bought up an additional 160 ( hectares) acres from Welcome Beach to Halfmoon Bay.

in 1909 Frederick Sargeant sold the land to B.G. Wolfe-Merton and Hubert Kitchin who turned the area into a village - a resort known as Redrooffs. (double "ff" because of old English spelling of the word). They constructed six log homes, six log cabins, built a community building, a wharf and the Redrooffs General Store. The name Redrooffs comes from the colour the roofs of the cabins dotting the shoreline. The red roof was a guiding landmark for the steam ships. The site of Coopers Green Park now sits on the same location.

The Halfmoon Bay area attracted pioneers like Clara Preistland (later Clara Lyall) in 1890. who was the first mail post officer. She would row her boat into the bay out to the steam vessels to collect the mail. The steam vessels were an important part of survival as they provided passenger service, mail delivery and supplies. The area needed a school for all the families coming to the area so Clara donated the land for the school in 1914.

Logging developed into a major industry in the early 1900s for many pioneers coming to the area. The big forestry player of the day was the Halfmoon Bay Logging Company which harvested the Trout Lake and Crowston Lake regions.

Not only forestry grew in the early 1900s, fish processing plants once lined the shores of Halfmoon Bay which was once named Cod Fish Bay. it was not till 1928 the road, made by wooden planks, connected Halfmoon Bay to the rest of the Sunshine Coast. Then the area began to open up and more people moved to the area.