It was first listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and was expanded and renamed in 1985.

[1] The district encompasses the principal residential areas near the center of downtown.

[2] Church Street, the area's principal route, was laid out about 1780, and is one of the city's oldest roads.

Residential development in the area remained modest until the 1850s, and in the subsequent decades a significant number of Italianate and Second Empire houses were built on Church Street and adjacent side streets, which were laid out beginning in the 1840s.

Later development extended further from Church Street, with a fine assembly of Stick and Queen Anne style houses on Holbrook and Cherry Streets to the east.