Its architectural styles are diverse, with a significant number of homes designed by local architect George M. Coombs.

The Franklin Company, which operated the mills, owned much of the land in the area, and laid out its streets.

The area in between the city's downtown and the Bates campus was originally farmland, which began to be sold off for development in 1851.

One of the first houses built on Frye Street was that of Oren B. Cheney, the founder of Bates College, in 1866.

The Frye Street area became popular with many of the city's business and political elites because it lay just beyond company-owned lands, and was close to the college.