Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Yarima Yuri II na Vladimir ya kafa garin a ranar 4 ga Fabrairu 1221. A cikin 1612, Kuzma Minin da Yarima Dmitry Pozharsky sun shirya rundunar soja don 'yantar da Moscow daga' yan Poland. A shekara ta 1817, Nizhny Novgorod ya zama babban cibiyar kasuwanci na Daular Rasha. A shekara ta 1896, a wani baje kolin da aka yi a Rasha
an shirya shi. A lokacin Soviet, garin ya zama muhimmiyar cibiyar masana'antu. Musamman, an gina Gidan Motoci na Gorky a wannan lokacin. Sai aka ba wa birnin laƙabin "Rasha Detroit". A lokacin Yaƙin Duniya na II, Gorky ya zama babban mai ba da kayan aikin soja ga Gabashin Gabas. Saboda wannan, Luftwaffe ya ci gaba da harba birnin daga sama. Yawancin bama-bamai na Jamus sun fadi a yankin Gorky Automobile Plant. Kodayake kusan dukkanin wuraren samar da masana'antar sun lalace gaba daya, 'yan garin Gorky sun sake gina masana'antar bayan kwanaki 100. Bayan yakin, Gorky ya zama birni mai rufewa kuma ya kasance ɗaya har bayan rushewar Tarayyar Soviet a 1991. A wannan lokacin, aka sake kiran birnin Nizhny Novgorod. A shekara ta 1985, an buɗe tashar jirgin karkashin kasa ta Nizhny Novgorod. A cikin 2016, Vladimir Putin ya buɗe sabon bikin cika shekaru 70 na Victory Plant wanda ke cikin kamfanin Almaz-Antey Air and Space Defense Corporation.