The lower house electoral district was created when the Electoral district of City of Adelaide was abolished in 1862 and East Adelaide and Electoral district of West Adelaide created. The district of Adelaide was ultimately recreated in 1902 by the recombination of East Adelaide and West Adelaide.
The electorate was created by the Electoral Districts Act (No. 20) of the South Australian parliament in 1861 but it was not until the state election of 1862 election that candidates were first elected to represent East Adelaide.[2] The electorate at its creation included all of the City of Adelaide (South Adelaide, North Adelaide and the Adelaide parklands) east of the centres of King William Street, Poole street, John Street and O'Connell Street.