Captain Basil J. Fisher turned a swamp into Greensboro's most fashionable Gilded Era address in 1901 when he donated the lowlands for a city park that bears his name.

Residents took full advantage of ample lots overlooking the park by commissioning the city's best architects to design sometimes palatial homes.

The district remained the epicenter of Greensboro's cultural elite until it was overshadowed by Irving Park, just a mile to the north.

[1] The 1950s and 60s brought challenges to the neighborhood bordering Greensboro's center city as office development threatened to replace historic homes.

Since then, the rate of destruction of historic homes has slowed (but not halted), the park has received a much needed make-over, and land values have spiraled upwards.