Centered around the town green, the district includes churches, schools and municipal buildings, many from the late 19th or early 20th centuries, as well as a diversity of residential architecture.

Its built infrastructure is dominated by industrial successes of the late 19th century, predominantly in the manufacture of rubber products by Charles Goodyear, and in malleable iron products manufactured by John Whittemore and Bronson Tuttle.

A finger extends eastward along Cedar Street to include the town's Spanish Revival railroad station.

Prominent buildings in the district include the Whittemore Library, a McKim, Mead & White design, the main post office, like the railroad station in a Spanish Revival style, and the Bronson B. Tuttle House, located at the northernmost end of the district.

The Tuttle House is a fine brick Victorian mansion, and the only major industrialist's residence to survive in the city.