The article shows the history of the methodological training of mathematics teachers in Russia in the second half of the nineteenth century and during the twentieth century. It is based on the analysis of didactic and methodological sources of different years; an internal periodization of methodological ideas dynamics and preparing math teachers for teaching this subject is proposed. The problems of training math teachers are illustrated with examples of specific schools. The article gives names of scientists, teachers, methodologists, mathematicians who have had a significant impact on the content of mathematical education at school. The authors were able to detect and convincingly show the cyclical nature of the process both in the second half of the nineteenth century, and in Soviet times. The article reflects the mission of Russian universities, teacher-training institutes in training math teachers for the domestic high school of the period under review.