[1][2] The area was first mentioned as Kumayri in the historic Urartian inscriptions dating back to the 8th century BC.

[4] Kumayri was again mentioned in 773 in accounts of the revolt against Arab domination led by Artavazd Mamikonyan that resulted in a revival of Armenian statehood.

In 1829, in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War, there was a big influx of Armenian population, as around 3,000 families who had migrated from territories in the Ottoman Empire -in particular from the towns of Kars, Erzurum, and Doğubayazıt- settled in and around Kumayri.

Gyumri was finally formed as a town in 1840 to become the centre of the newly established Alexandropol uezd, experiencing rapid growth during its first decade.

The town was an important outpost for the Imperial Russian armed forces in the Transcaucasus where their military barracks were established (e.g., at Poligons, Severski, Kazachi Post).

The Russians built the Sev Berd fortress at the western edge of the city during the 1830s in response to the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829.

After the establishment of the railway station in 1899, Alexandropol witnessed a significant growth and became the largest city in Eastern Armenia.

Monuments such the homes of important Armenian cultural figures and wealthy families from the pre-Soviet period, and several churches, including a Russian chapel, still stand.

[1] The historic district contains around 1,600 monuments of cultural significance that occupy the streets of Gorky, Abovyan, Rustaveli, and Vardapets.

[5] The famous house of the Dzitoghtsyan family was built in 1872 by four brothers who migrated from the Western Armenian village of Dzitogh, to the city of Alexandropol.

The building was built in 1886, with red tuff stone of Shirak Province, and was the home of a wealthy merchant named Qeshishyan.

The fortress was downgraded to "second-class" status in 1887, after the final Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 that saw Russia gain strongholds in Kars and Batumi.

Because of the roof’s tin material, the Alexandrapol people were used to use plplan (meaning shining or sparkling) to describe the dome of the church.