In addition to the pine trees, there were also a number of open glens where clover grew in abundance, and this seems to be the likely origin of the name, Cloverdale, which was adopted in 1892.
Olmsted was America's preeminent landscape architect and responsible for a number of nineteenth century residential suburbs, including Riverside (1869) in Chicago and Druid Hills (1893) in Atlanta, Georgia.
Olmsted was at work on the landscape plan for the Alabama State Capitol grounds in Montgomery in 1889, contemporary with the early development of Cloverdale.
A comparison of Cloverdale with Johnson's design for the residential suburb Inman Park in Atlanta reveals some remarkable similarities.
This house, which was located on the corner of what is now Felder Avenue and Norman Bridge Road, was demolished for an apartment complex in the late 1940s.
During the next fifteen years, the Cloverdale site lay dormant with the exception of some activity along the north side of Felder Avenue, where a small golf course and tennis courts were built, the beginning of the Montgomery Country Club.
Its short existence as an incorporated village (1910–1927) gave it a special sense of neighborhood, which it has retained to some degree to the present day.