[2] It consists of 252 structures on 63.5 acres (0.257 km2), with the most notable buildings from the years 1880 to 1949.

The earliest building, a former farmhouse at 333 Walnut Avenue, dates from 1840.

Since 1810, the block bounded by Main Street, Academy Hill Place, Maple Avenue, and Grant Street has been used for a succession of public schools, and the 1810 school at this site was the source of the neighborhood's name.

Main Street, north of these landmark structures, is lined with large houses and mansions built for the city's elite, some designed by Paul Bartholomew.

The north-south streets east of Maple Avenue are lined with relatively modest houses representing middle-class and working-class residential architecture in the pre-World War II era.