There was a North West Company post and a rival post near the mouth of the Tippo River called Lac des Serpents (Lake of Serpents or Snake Lake) in 1786.

The Hudson's Bay Company had a post at the north end of Pinehouse Lake called the Souris River Post. It was located about 2 km west of the mouth of the Belanger River once known as the Souris River. Most of the residents of this settlement which numbered about 100 people in the 1920s and 1930s eventually moved to Pinehouse. The Souris River Post near Sandfly Lake operated from 1875 to 1939. The Census of 1906 called this settlement then numbering 73 people Souris River on the Churchill.

Missionaries first visited the Dene population of Pinehouse Lake in 1899. A smallpox epidemic killed around half of the population of the area in 1900-1901. Some survivors moved up the Churchill River towards Patuanak and downriver to Stanley Mission further depleting the area population.

The 1906 Canada Census uses the name Serpent Lake on the Churchill to describe the community that then had about 11 people which included the family of Samuel and Veronique Misponas.

A townsite was established in the 1940s and a Roman Catholic church (St. Dominic) was built in 1944 followed by a store and in 1948 a school. In 1954 the community was renamed Pinehouse Lake. Pinehouse was originally named Snake Lake (kinêpiko-sâkahikam in Cree) and elders still use this name in reference to the community. Although officially named Pinehouse, numerous official sources including the official road map of Saskatchewan issued by the province, identifies the community by the name Pinehouse Lake.

Eighty houses were built between 1967 and 1980 and Pinehouse was connected to the power grid in 1984 replacing a diesel generator set up around 1970. The first road to the community was built from Highway 2 in 1977.