diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServerArguments.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServerArguments.scala
index 080ba12c2f0d1..49f00cb10179e 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServerArguments.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServerArguments.scala
@@ -34,35 +34,21 @@ private[history] class HistoryServerArguments(conf: SparkConf, args: Array[Strin
 
   @tailrec
   private def parse(args: List[String]): Unit = {
-    if (args.length == 1) {
-      setLogDirectory(args.head)
-    } else {
-      args match {
-        case ("--dir" | "-d") :: value :: tail =>
-          setLogDirectory(value)
-          parse(tail)
+    args match {
+      case ("--help" | "-h") :: tail =>
+        printUsageAndExit(0)
 
-        case ("--help" | "-h") :: tail =>
-          printUsageAndExit(0)
+      case ("--properties-file") :: value :: tail =>
+        propertiesFile = value
+        parse(tail)
 
-        case ("--properties-file") :: value :: tail =>
-          propertiesFile = value
-          parse(tail)
+      case Nil =>
 
-        case Nil =>
-
-        case _ =>
-          printUsageAndExit(1)
-      }
+      case _ =>
+        printUsageAndExit(1)
     }
   }
 
-  private def setLogDirectory(value: String): Unit = {
-    logWarning("Setting log directory through the command line is deprecated as of " +
-      "Spark 1.1.0. Please set this through spark.history.fs.logDirectory instead.")
-    conf.set("spark.history.fs.logDirectory", value)
-  }
-
    // This mutates the SparkConf, so all accesses to it must be made after this line
    Utils.loadDefaultSparkProperties(conf, propertiesFile)
 
@@ -73,8 +59,6 @@ private[history] class HistoryServerArguments(conf: SparkConf, args: Array[Strin
       |Usage: HistoryServer [options]
       |
       |Options:
-      |  DIR                         Deprecated; set spark.history.fs.logDirectory directly
-      |  --dir DIR (-d DIR)          Deprecated; set spark.history.fs.logDirectory directly
       |  --properties-file FILE      Path to a custom Spark properties file.
       |                              Default is conf/spark-defaults.conf.
       |
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServerArgumentsSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServerArgumentsSuite.scala
index de321db845a66..37954826af90c 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServerArgumentsSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/history/HistoryServerArgumentsSuite.scala
@@ -40,18 +40,6 @@ class HistoryServerArgumentsSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
     assert(conf.get("spark.testing") === "true")
   }
 
-  test("Directory Arguments Parsing --dir or -d") {
-    val argStrings = Array("--dir", "src/test/resources/spark-events1")
-    val hsa = new HistoryServerArguments(conf, argStrings)
-    assert(conf.get("spark.history.fs.logDirectory") === "src/test/resources/spark-events1")
-  }
-
-  test("Directory Param can also be set directly") {
-    val argStrings = Array("src/test/resources/spark-events2")
-    val hsa = new HistoryServerArguments(conf, argStrings)
-    assert(conf.get("spark.history.fs.logDirectory") === "src/test/resources/spark-events2")
-  }
-
   test("Properties File Arguments Parsing --properties-file") {
     val tmpDir = Utils.createTempDir()
     val outFile = File.createTempFile("test-load-spark-properties", "test", tmpDir)
diff --git a/sbin/start-history-server.sh b/sbin/start-history-server.sh
index 38a43b98c3992..71dace47767cb 100755
--- a/sbin/start-history-server.sh
+++ b/sbin/start-history-server.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,22 @@ if [ -z "${SPARK_HOME}" ]; then
   export SPARK_HOME="$(cd "`dirname "$0"`"/..; pwd)"
 fi
 
+# NOTE: This exact class name is matched downstream by SparkSubmit.
+# Any changes need to be reflected there.
+CLASS="org.apache.spark.deploy.history.HistoryServer"
+
+if [[ "$@" = *--help ]] || [[ "$@" = *-h ]]; then
+  echo "Usage: ./sbin/start-history-server.sh [options]"
+  pattern="Usage:"
+  pattern+="\|Using Spark's default log4j profile:"
+  pattern+="\|Started daemon with process name"
+  pattern+="\|Registered signal handler for"
+
+  "${SPARK_HOME}"/bin/spark-class $CLASS --help 2>&1 | grep -v "$pattern" 1>&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 . "${SPARK_HOME}/sbin/spark-config.sh"
 . "${SPARK_HOME}/bin/load-spark-env.sh"
 
-exec "${SPARK_HOME}/sbin"/spark-daemon.sh start org.apache.spark.deploy.history.HistoryServer 1 "$@"
+exec "${SPARK_HOME}/sbin"/spark-daemon.sh start $CLASS 1 "$@"