[4] In 1853 James Frew paid £2,200 for the 130-acre (53 ha) allotment after Glen Osmond Road was cut through the middle of the Section.

In 1855 a blacksmith set up on the corner closest to Adelaide, and the Frewville Inn was established on Glen Osmond Road.

There was at about this time a single large two-storey wooden villa house that was set well back from Glen Osmond Road.

In the 1960s and 1970s the national freight carrier IPEC housed its main office and distribution centre at Frewville.

On the northern side of the suburb, in the Glenside hospital, a chemical research company built a large two-storey building in Flemington Street.

The suburb is well-serviced by public transport; buses run down Glen Osmond Road every 15 minutes until 6pm and there are numerous other bus routes in the city.

A prestige car company is located at the southernmost point adjacent to an office block that houses among other businesses a community television station.

Frewville is in the South Australian House of Assembly Electoral District of Unley and the Federal Division of Sturt.