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Contra dance has its roots in the end of the 17th century when English and Scottish country dances were taken up by French dance masters. The French called these dances contredanses. Over time these dances returned to England and were spread and reinterpreted in the United States, and eventually the French form of the name came to be associated with the American folk dances.

By the late 19th century, contras were most common in rural settings. This changed with the square dance revival of the 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s, the increasing popularity of jazz and swing music caused contra dance to decline in many parts of the US but it was kept alive with dance weekends.