Extending along Chestnut and Franklin Streets south of Peabody City Hall, the district includes a small residential area built in the mid-19th century, as well as the city hall and St. JOhn the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, two monumental structures defining the town's civic heart.

[1] The city of Peabody was originally part of Salem, and was, after a series of political divisions, incorporated separately as South Danvers in 1855.

The area where the city center developed was settled as early as 1634, when a grist mill was built on Proctor Brook north of what is now Lowell Street.

The area developed residentially in the 1840s, when Lowell Street (not part of the district except City Hall) was lined with small businesses such as shoe shops, resulting in a collection of Greek Revival and Italianate houses.

[2] The historic district is anchored at its northeastern corner by City Hall, and is roughly L shape extending south and then west from there.