The station opened on November 22, 1980, and coincided with the completion of 3.52 miles (5.66 km) of rail east of the Stadium–Armory station and the opening of the Addison Road and Benning Road stations.[2]
In December 2012, Capitol Heights was one of five stations added to the route of the Silver Line, which was originally supposed to end at the Stadium-Armory station, but was extended into Prince George's County, Maryland to the Largo Town Center station (the eastern terminus of the Blue Line) due to safety concerns about a pocket track just past Stadium-Armory.[3] Silver Line service at Capitol Heights began on July 26, 2014.[4]