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The club was founded on 1 March 1886 by a group of fifteen people who met at the Cafè del Centre on Rambla Nova. The majority of the club's early members belonged to the upper middle classes and, as the club name suggests, it was initially founded to promote gymnastics. Later the club members also began to organise fencing, hiking, boxing and cycling. In 1914, the club absorbed a local football club called Club Olímpic de Tarragona and consequently formed its own football team, using the former colours of Olímpic: red, white and black. In those days, it played home matches in the Avenida Catalunya stadium.

In January 1918, Gimnàstic made its debut as a football team in the Championat de Catalunya and, by 1927, were crowned champions of its second division. In 1943–44 the team first appeared in Tercera División and, in the following season, was promoted to Segunda División.

In the 1946–47 season Nàstic finished second in the second division and, the following campaign, arrived in La Liga. In 1947 it also reached the Copa del Generalísimo semi-final but lost to RCD Espanyol, having beaten FC Barcelona in the previous round.

The team finished its debut first division season in seventh place, with the highlight of the season coming on 11 January 1948 with a 3–1 win against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu, thus becoming the first team ever to do so. The club played two further seasons in the top level, being relegated in 1949–50 after losing a play-off to CD Alcoyano; it moved to the new Nou Estadi in 1972.

In 2006–07 Gimnàstic returned to the top flight, 56 years later. Along with coach Luis César Sampedro, some of the players responsible for the promotion remained such as veteran Antonio Pinilla and Albano Bizarri. Rubén Castro, Ariza Makukula and Javier Portillo (eventually the team's top scorer), were also brought in. However, the club was placed in the relegation zone for 33 of the 38 rounds, eventually dropping down a division; Sampedro was replaced in midseason by Paco Flores, who improved the team's numbers but could not avoid relegation. In the middle of 2007 the club was crowned Copa Catalunya champions after a 2–1 win over FC Barcelona, with goals from Pinilla and Tati Maldonado.

After returning to the second level Gimnàstic achieved a mid-table position in 2007–08 and 2008–09, with César Ferrando being in charge of the team. However, in the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons, the club only managed to rank one position above the relegation zone, and, in the 2011–12 campaign, was relegated to Segunda División B after only winning six games out of 42.

On 12 September 2012 Nàstic won the second Catalan Cup in its history, after defeating AEC Manlleu with an Eugeni goal. In the 2014–15 campaign, after finishing first in its group, the club returned to the second level after defeating SD Huesca in the play-offs.