It is the smallest neighborhood in the city by both area and population, but due to its central location and unique character it is quite notable.

In the western end of the neighborhood the terrain opens up considerably as Latah Creek joins into the Spokane River.

Tribes continued to maintain their summer fishing camps in the area even after the City of Spokane was settled by European Americans.

Also in 1891, the oldest standing single-family home in Peaceful Valley, the Pietsch House, was built at Ash and Main.

Two years after clearing the squatters, real estate developer C. F. Clough platted the neighborhood and began selling lots.

They were small, simple homes, one or two stories tall and long and thin due to the size of the lots that had been platted.

[6] Early commercial buildings in the neighborhood included the Spokane Casket Company, built in 1901, which operated for nearly 100 years.

[2] Access to the neighborhood was difficult due to the surrounding terrain, but became easier in when the Monroe Street Bridge was constructed in 1911.

The structure was an existing barrack transported from Geiger Field that had a precipitous journey down the hill into Peaceful Valley.

The two-room Cowley School served the first and second grades only, as older children were deemed capable of climbing the stairs.

[2] The most dramatic change in the neighborhood occurred in 1957 when the Maple Street Bridge was built over the Spokane River and a large swath of Peaceful Valley.

Initially left barren, the empty space directly underneath the bridge became a source of blight within the neighborhood.

[18] The city is moving forward with a 2021 proposal that would connect the Peaceful Valley path from People's Park to the Fish Lake Trail which heads south.

The other, the only wooden staircase the city maintains, is located on the other end of the neighborhood at Spruce Street where it climbs to Riverside Avenue in Browne's Addition at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

[20] Public transportation is provided by the Spokane Transit Authority, which serves Peaceful Valley with one fixed route bus line.