Yamada District was created on December 7, 1878, with the reorganization of Gunma Prefecture into districts. It included 60 villages, which were formerly part of the tenryō holdings in Kōzuke Province under the direct administration of the Tokugawa shogunate, one town (Kiryu-shinmachi) and one village under the Matsuyama sub-domain of Shōnai Domain in Dewa Province and one village controlled by Jōzai Domain in Kazusa Province. With the establishment of the municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the area was organized into two towns (Kiyru and Ōmama) and eight villages.
Timeline
1893: Niragawa village was divided into Yabagawa and Kyuhaku villages.
March 1, 1921: Kiryū was raised to city status
April 1, 1933: Kiryū annexes Sakano village
April 1, 1937: Kiryū annexes Hirosawa village
April 1, 1940: Niragawa village merged with Ōta town in neighboring Nitta District.
October 1, 1954: The village of Fukuoka and part of Kawauchi merged with Ōmama, and the villages of Umeda, Aioi and the remainder of Kawauchi merged with Kiryū.
April 1, 1957: The village of Kyuhaku was absorbed by Ōta city.
July 1, 1960: The village of Yabagawa was divided between Ōta and Ashikaga, Tochigi.
December 1, 1963: The village of Morita was annexed by Ōta.