Since the mid-1880s, the Tula Diocese Antiquities Chamber existed in the Tula province, founded by Nikolai Ivanovich Troitsky, a teacher at the Tula Theological Seminary and a local historian, who was a full member of the Moscow Archaeological Society.

The new museum was established thanks to the efforts of the department for museums and the protection of monuments of art and antiquity under the Tulgubnarobraz. The head of the department was Professor A. P. Rudakov from Moscow University, an author of works on the history of the Tula region. Among the department's staff were N. I. Troitsky and P. D. Pokarzhevsky, who served as the curator.

The museum was named the Tula Art and Historical Museum, and its foundation is considered to be the day of the opening of the first art and historical exhibition on May 18, 1919, at the House named after K. Marx, previously known as the House named after Alexander II, which is now a branch of the 'Tula Samovars.' The exhibition featured historical and artistic items from noble estates in the Alexin, Belev, and Epifan districts, from various institutions in Tula, as well as from the estates of Count Bobrinsky in Bogoroditsk and Count Gagarin in the Epifan and Krapivna districts. Among the exhibits were items of paleontology, archaeology, ethnography, painting, engraving, lithography, porcelain and faience, beads, furniture, weapons, marble and bronze from private collections, as well as works by artists such as I. K. Aivazovsky, N. S. Samokish, P. R. Kovalevsky, V. A. Tropinin, L. F. Lagorio, Yu. Yu. Klever, and N. E. Rachkov.

The permanent exhibition of the museum opened in May 1920, and admission was free. Until 1927, the staff not only studied and described the collection but also published materials of a local history nature and gathered many new exhibits, including paintings by K. P. Bryullov, F. H. Gau, G. G. Myasoedov, K. A. Korovin, P. P. Konchalovsky, Saxon porcelain, English Wedgwood faience, and porcelain from Russian factories.

During the Great Patriotic War, the museum's exhibitions were suspended, and the most valuable items were evacuated to Kurgan. An art exhibition titled 'Heroic Defense of Tula' was organized in the museum. The museum reopened to visitors in February 1947. In the post-war years, the collection was actively replenished, and new exhibitions were opened by the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. At that time, the museum had three main departments: nature, history of the pre-Soviet period, and history of Soviet society.

On December 20, 2013, the Tula Regional Local History Museum reopened after extensive renovation and restoration work. Its hallmark became the sculpture by V. Ya. Menshov 'Battle of Kulikovo.' At the end of 2013, new exhibitions 'Pershin Hunt' and 'Military Glory of Tula Residents' were opened on the second floor, occupying two halls. The first hall presents four historical events, starting from spearheads and a cross-encolpion from the Kulikovo field to a pistol with a flintlock mechanism from the Tula Arms Factory of 1813, as well as awards of Tula residents who participated in the battle of the cruiser 'Varyag' and documents and awards of the head of Tula's defense, member of the military council of the 50th army V. G. Zhavoronkov.