It was founded in 1869 as station on Kurs'k-Kharkiv-Azov railway. On the place of modern city in 1786 was settlement Khartsyz'ka which belonged to General I.D.Ilovays'kyi. Vallage name comes from the word "hartsyzy" (thieves). In XVI century Turks and Tatars so called fugitive peasants and Cossacks, who settled on the southern borders of the Russian Empire.