Tân Phú's administrative history is short — barely two decades as an independent district — but the land itself carries a much older story.
Under the Republic of Vietnam, Tân Phú commune is established within Tân Bình district, formed from land cut from two neighboring communes, Tân Sơn Nhì and Phú Thọ Hòa.
Well before the commune bears its name, residents of Phú Thọ Hòa begin digging a network of tunnels and communication trenches on this land as part of the anti-French resistance; see Anecdotes, below.
Tân Bình district, which by now includes the Tân Phú area, is reorganized from 26 wards down to 20.
The Phú Thọ Hòa tunnel network is recognized as a national historical relic, its surviving sections preserved as a memorial site.
The government issues Decree No. 130/2003/NĐ-CP, splitting Tân Bình district to create Tân Phú district: the new district absorbs wards 16 through 20 in full, plus parts of wards 14 and 15, giving it an initial population of roughly 310,000 against Tân Bình's remaining 430,000.
Tân Phú urbanizes rapidly, its former farmland increasingly built over with apartment blocks and shopping centers; by 2024 its population reaches nearly 585,000 packed into just under 16 square kilometers, among the densest districts in the city.
Tân Phú district is dissolved as part of a citywide ward reform, its wards merged and redistributed alongside a broader restructuring across Ho Chi Minh City.