It is so named due to the dominance of the leather industry in the late 19th century.

The district did not exist until Boston's land-making expansions filled in the former South Cove during the 1830s, making way for the development of this area as well as Chinatown.

It was at first developed as a residential area, but became the center of the city's leather industry after the Great Boston Fire of 1872, which devastated the city's business district and led to the introduction of stringent commercial fire codes.

The buildings constructed in this district between the 1880s and 1920 reflect these constraints, and the needs of the leather manufacturers to efficiently use their spaces.

Many of the buildings were designed by architects, notably including Peabody and Stearns and Willard T. Sears, with a significant influence of the Richardsonian Romanesque style.