Moore Haven was founded by an Anglo settler named James A. Moore. He began his settlement near an ancient town where the Seminole and other Native American tribes had lived for thousands of years. Back in those early days, Moore Haven prospered as a boom town with all the activity going on around Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. The town was also located at the point where the Caloosahatchee Canal met Lake Okeechobee.

Everything went really well until the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 nearly wiped out the town. The storm surge from the lake actually relocated some houses across the river from where they had been. The settlement might have recovered if the Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 hadn't ripped through and devastated those areas of the town that had survived the previous hurricane.

Today, Moore Haven is like a town that time forgot: very little infrastructure and almost no industry. The big event every year is the Chalo Nitka Festival, held every year during the first weekend in March. Chalo Nitka coincides with the Glades County Fair, a week-long event.

The Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation is almost right next door.