[3] The land was originally part of "Auchentorlie", the estate of Dr George Buchanan (1696–1750), one of the seven commissioners responsible for the 1729 establishment of Baltimore Town.

Buchanan's country estate northwest of the town, and on the west bank and overlooking the Jones Falls stream, included 579 of the 745 acres (3.01 km2) that comprise Druid Hill Park today.

Renamed "Druid Hill" by Col. Nicholas Rogers, who married Eleanor Buchanan, it was purchased in 1860 by the City of Baltimore from family descendant Lloyd Rogers with municipal funds raised by the revenue derived from a one-cent park tax on the nickel horsecar fares, put through by 19th Mayor Thomas Swann.

The Park served as an attractive hill for winter sledding during the 1940s, particularly for boys attending the nearby Talmudical Academy of Baltimore.

The northern end of the park, which contains some of the oldest forest growth in the state of Maryland, has never been landscaped, but rather left as a natural wooded habitat.

Through 2024, it serves as a reservoir for the Baltimore metropolitan area public water system, after which that function will be replaced by two large underground tanks installed in the western end of the lake.

[11] With the advent of automobiles, the park's many winding roadways became popular with car dealers who took potential buyers there to teach them to drive.

[12] When the Park first opened in 1860 - a few months before the outbreak of the American Civil War - recreation facilities such as pools and tennis courts were racially segregated.

The names of the protestors are commemorated on the Baltimore Tennis Club marker, located adjacent to the Rawlings Conservatory glasshouse along Druid Park Lake Drive.

The statue of George Washington (removed from old Carroll Hall building from the mid-19th century at the southwest corner of Calvert and Baltimore Streets in downtown) is placed at an intersection near the Rotunda driveway.

[18] Druid Hill Park is not home to any private residences, according to the official neighborhood boundaries by the city government of Baltimore.

[19] However, the Mansion House, located in The Maryland Zoo, which was built in 1801, served as the estate for Colonel Nicholas Rogers and his family until it was converted into a public pavilion in 1863.