Dr. Powell (1798–1870) owned most of the land in the Candler Lake and South Fork Peachtree Creek area during his lifetime.

[4] Major Washington Jackson Houston owned land on the north side of the South Fork of Peachtree Creek, in what is now Briarcliff.

Visitors used to visit Major Houston to buy ground cornmeal produced by his 1876 gristmill or to attend social gatherings held on his property.

[5] After World War II and continuing into the 1950s, many Jews moved out of Washington-Rawson, where Turner Field now stands, and the Old Fourth Ward into North Druid Hills and Morningside/Lenox Park.

[7] The 19-story Executive Park Motor Hotel, built in the 1970s at the southeast corner of I-85 and North Druid Hills Road and which later served as a BellSouth training center,[8] was a modernist landmark until its demolition in November 2014[9] after being purchased by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for $9.6 million in January 2013.

[16] According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 5.0 square miles (13 km2), of which 0.20% is water.

The commercial component consists of two major shopping centers that are located at the intersection of LaVista and North Druid Hills roads that were developed in the 1950s.

Some sources claim that the developer chose the name Toco because it was the Brazilian Indian word for "good luck.

The United States Postal Service operates the Druid Hills Post Office at 1799 Briarcliff Road NE in the CDP.