The peak was named in 1898 by Albert Hale Sylvester, a pioneer surveyor, explorer, topographer, and forest supervisor in the Cascades who named thousands of natural features. The first ascent of the summit was made July 26, 1904, by Sledge Tatum and George E. Louden, Jr., two members of the Boundary Survey group led by Edward C. Barnard. Remmel Mountain was once topped by a gable roof single-room 14' by 14' fire lookout that was built by the Forest Service in the 1930s. The lookout was subject to heavy lightning strikes that forced its closure, and by 1969 was reported destroyed. Had it been still operating in 2001, that fire lookout would have been in a position to locate the nearby Thirtymile Fire which killed four firefighters in Chewuch Canyon.