There is a distinct difference in the architecture and tree canopy between the historic district and the rest of the residential and commercial areas of Millwood which were developed more recently.

[5] Argonne Road is the main street through Millwood, connecting the city with the rest of the Spokane area via highways to the south.

As the main street, it is home to the commercial section of the historic district, which runs along the west side of Argonne and wraps around for the first block of Euclid Avenue.

[5] Prior to European settlement, the area that is now the historic district was homeland to the Spokane people.

[5] European settlement in the Millwood area began with Antoine Plante, who founded a ferry across the river in 1856 about two miles upstream.

Development in the area was spurred on in 1903 when an electric interurban railway connecting Spokane to Coeur d'Alene was routed through Millwood.

[5] With demand for housing outpacing supply as the mill continued to expand, the paper company started purchasing lots around its property in 1911.

By the early 1920s, the company owned most of the lots in the townsite and in 1923 established a loan fund to help employees construct homes in Millwood.

[7] In 1923, residential development started to take off as the paper company built a rail line from the mill into what is now the historic district to bring a steam shovel to help facilitate construction.

[5] Inland Empire Paper Company continued to expand throughout the 1910s and 1920s, and made a major expansion in 1931, but as the Great Depression dragged on that growth would ultimately come to a halt.

[5] Stagnation occurred during the Great Depression and into World War II, though a handful of homes and commercial buildings were constructed in the district in the 1930s and 1940s.