Until the 1950s, the only building was an Ottoman hunting lodge, with the rest of the area consisting of pastures and meadows.
[3] In the 1950s, many people from rural Turkey began migrating to Istanbul and building shanties (gecekondu) in the area.
In the 1980s, municipal services such as roads, water lines, and electricity were brought to the area, and many of the shanties were demolished and replaced with multistory concrete apartment buildings.
[11] Fikirtepe Mound (höyük), a Neolithic settlement, was located near the center of the neighborhood, but has now been built over.
[15] This building, which was restored in 2017, is all that remains of the complex that included the 1861 Kurbağalıdere Mansion (köşk) and the 1864 Murat V Hunting Lodge (av köşkü).