It consists of the five neighbourhoods (historical Vorstädte, i.e. towns): Mariahilf, Gumpendorf, Windmühle, Magdalenengrund and Laimgrube.

Emperor Ferdinand I had the ownership transferred to Johann Francolin, subject to the condition that he should build windmills there.

Following the acquisition of the originally privately operated power plant, by the municipality of Vienna, it was decommissioned and converted into a substation.

"Erinnern für die Zukunft" (Remembrance for the Future) is a memorial project for the many residents of Mariahilf district who were murdered by the Nazi dictatorship in the 1938-1945 period.

Until the beginning of the First World War, the population declined only slightly and remained largely stable.

The gender distribution in the district area corresponded to the community trend, with 47.1% men and 52.9% women.

The proportion of foreign-district residents in 2005 was 19.6% (Vienna citywide: 18.7%), and increased over 2001 (17.8%), along with the rising trend in the entire State.

The highest proportion of foreigners, in 2005, represented approximately a 3.6% share of the district population as nationals from Serbia and Montenegro.

When the Greens entered the district politics in the late 80s, the ÖVP and SPÖ started to rapidly lose votes.

In the elections of 2010, the Greens and the ÖVP suffered heavy losses, while the SPÖ, FPÖ and BZÖ gained more votes.

The district's arms combine those of the five independent communities from which it was formed in 1850: The Theater an der Wien, on Wienzeile, was built in 1801 and is now one of the composite of the United Stages Vienna.

Ludwig van Beethoven lived between 1803 and 1804 part-time in the building, where today a memorial room is dedicated.

The house, in the mid-1980s, belonged like the Theater an der Wien to the United Stages Vienna, and it is the venue for musicals.

The District Museum of Mariahilf, on Mollardgasse street, is dedicated to, inter alia, focusing Ratzenstadl (Magdalenengrund), Theater an der Wien, and the Palais Kaunitz-Esterhazy.

A former flak tower is home to the Haus des Meeres ("house of the sea"), whose biggest attractions of the 2007 opening, included a 300,000 liter shark tank.

On Haydngasse street is located the Haydn-House of the composer Joseph Haydn, acquired in 1793 and inhabited until his death in 1809.