The kibbutz was founded on 11 March 1947, on the site of Hamara, a moshav established by Jewish farmers in 1919 but abandoned in 1920 due to financial hardship and security issues. It was named for Baruch (Bernard) Gordon, a South African Zionist. The founders were members of other kvutzot who had met in Kfar Giladi; members of the HaTenua HaMeuhedet youth movement, members of Habonim who immigrated to British Mandate of Palestine as Ma'apilim (illegal immigrants of Aliyah Bet), and members of a garin of pioneering soldiers from South Africa who fought in the British Army during World War II.

After the 1948 Palestine war, Ma'ayan Baruch took over part of the land belonging to the newly depopulated Palestinian village of al-Sanbariyya.

During the 2023 conflict between Hamas and Israel, northern Israeli border communities, including Ma'ayan Baruch, faced targeted attacks by Hezbollah and Palestinian factions based in Lebanon, and were evacuated.

A new neighborhood in Ma'ayan Baruch was built to attract newcomers and bring money into the kibbutz coffers in the wake of the socio-economic problems that have affected many kibbutzim since the 1980s. The newcomers are from other kibbutzim and townships in the region, as well as other parts of the country.

A museum which holds a collection of prehistoric artifacts found in the Hula Valley, the Upper Galilee Museum of Prehistory, also known as The Prehistoric Man Museum, is located on the kibbutz. The museum collection includes the skeleton of a prehistoric (Natufian) woman, approximately 50 years old, buried with her dog.

An Acheulian site was discovered at Ma‘ayan Baruch.

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  Ma’ayan Baruch, 11 March 1947
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  Early construction work on Ma'ayan Baruch on 1 March 1947. The 3 members of the British colonial Palestine Police Force pictured here include Amnon Assaf, founder of the Upper Galilee Museum of Prehistory.
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  Ma'ayan Baruch. First buildings 1947
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  Ma’ayan Baruch 1947

• Menashe Kadishman (born 1932), sculptor and painter
• Rela Mazali (born 1948), Israeli peace activist and writer
• Amnon Shamosh, Israeli author and poet

• Notes from the Frontier, an account of life on the kibbutz in the mid-1960s by American author Hugh Nissenson.

• Upper Galilee Museum of Prehistory website, English page (accessed March 2024)