Today's Stevensweert arose in the early Middle Ages on an island in the Meuse, with the eastern branch being the Old Meuse. This domain initially belonged to the County of Loon and since 1243 to the Oberg. From 1253 it belonged to the Ambt Montfort. In 1543 Obergelre came to the Habsburg Monarchy and thus became Spanish Obergelr. The late Gothic sculptor Jan van Steffeswert was probably born here at the end of the 15th century. The original village was converted into a fortress town in 1633 by the Spanish general Francisco de Moncada. An earthen wall with seven bastions and five rave lines was built around the place.
In 1702, Stevensweert was besieged by the states, causing severe damage to the castle and the fortress becoming state property. From 1716 Stevensweert finally came into state hands and belonged to Staatsober-Gelre. Stevensweert has retained its heptagonal perimeter and geometric street pattern to this day. The original fortification wall was destroyed in 1874. In 1882 the island bridge was built over the Oude Maas, connecting the island to the mainland. In 1922 the Roermond - Sittard tram line was completed and Stevensweert received a tram stop. Five trams ran in both directions every day and a journey to Roermond station took 24 minutes. In 1937 the tram line was broken up and bus services took over passenger transport. With the construction of the Juliana Canal (1925-1934), Stevensweert was again on an elongated island, which was only connected to the shore by a few bridges and therefore always still had a more or less isolated situation. After the Second World War, gravel extraction was added, which created a number of puddles.
In 2007, the reconstruction of a small part of the fortifications began based on historical maps of a bastion, a rave line and the associated north side of Stevensweert.