The manor of Albert von Harra was first mentioned in a document in 1232. This is where the village originated. The chronicle of the former Saale-Rennsteig administrative community mentions the possibility that Harra began as a Sorbian village. However, there is no evidence of this.
Around 1550, the manor was divided into several smaller estates, which were sold to different owners in the following years. After the Thirty Years' War, all of the estates came into the possession of the von Reitzenstein family. In 1848, the estates fall to the princely House of Reuss in Schleiz and are subsequently leased out. Just two years later, the village was given a municipal constitution and began to govern itself through a municipal council and municipal representatives. Harra's coat of arms shows two crossed hammers under a blue wavy line, above which are three trees. This is a reference to the town's former mining tradition, the water of the Saale river and the abundance of forests in the surrounding region.
In addition to the manor, Harra had a church early on and a village teacher from 1601 at the latest. Surrounding villages such as Kießling, Seibis, Blankenstein and Schlegel went to Harra for school and parish. The deceased inhabitants of Blankenstein were also laid to rest here until 1952. As a result, the village was a central location in the community life of the neighboring villages for a long time. During the construction of the Bleiloch dam and the damming of the Saale, parts of the village were demolished. Otherwise they would have fallen victim to the dammed up water of the Saale. However, historic buildings can still be found in Harra today, including the old manor house and the house of mechanic Horn.