It emerged towards the end of the 14th century, when the new Kremlin built by Dmitri Donskoi pushed the posad settlement into what is known today as the Red Square as well as areas further east.

The main trading road to the south and the river crossing also moved to the east, to present-day Balchug and Pyatnitskaya streets.

The gardeners settled east of Balchug, giving its name to the Sadovniki neighborhood and present-day Sadovnicheskaya Street.

Eventually, as the city grew south into Zamoskvorechye, Balchug became a market street, with butchers, bakers, inns, and public baths, according to tax records from 1669.

Four years later, Russia's first triumphal arch was built in front of the bridge in order to welcome Peter I's return from the Azov campaigns.

A new channel extension east was built to bypass the old 90-degree turn; as the 1853 map shows, the new canal cut the Red Hills neighborhood away from the mainland.

Four pairs of bridges (Bolshoy Kamenny, Moskvoretsky, Ustinsky, Krasnokholmsky over the Moskva River and their lesser siblings over the Canal) cut the island into five distinct parts.

The City announced plans to build a pedestrian bridge across the Moskva River in Red Hills, but no draft had been published as of 2007.

Bersenevka, the oldest part of the island, boasts architectural diversity with buildings such as the Averky Kirillov estate (1650s, rebuilt 1703–1711), including the manor house, and the St. Nicholas Church.

The river banks are dominated by the red-brick buildings of the former Krasny Oktyabr chocolate factory (north) and the yellow Second Powerplant.

Later, it was cleared for a parade ground and witnessed a number of public executions, including that of Emelyan Pugachev and his fellow Cossack rebels on January 21 [O.S.

Sadovniki also possess two 1930s memorial buildings, the constructivist Textile Institute (1938) and postconstructivist School 518, recently rebuilt to the original 1935 drafts but in compliance with modern safety rules.

Prior to the 1938 construction of Bolshoy Krasnokholmsky Bridge, Red Hills was separated from the island by a narrow canal running just outside the Garden Ring (see 1853 map).

As recently as 15 years ago, the eastern tip of the island was occupied by low-rise industrial buildings, but they were torn down and replaced by offices, a hotel tower (2006), and the Moscow International House of Music (2003).