It covers a roughly 19-acre (7.7 ha) area in the city's Jewelry District, just south of Downtown Providence.

While the area began as a residential neighborhood, it emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a center of Providence's jewelry manufacturing businesses.

The oldest industrial building in the district is the 1848 Elm Street Machine Shop (116 Elm Street), a 2+1⁄2-story stone structure that now houses offices of Brown University.

[2] The district has an irregular L shape, reflecting a since rerouted portion of Interstate 195.

[2] The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and expanded by the inclusion of several buildings in 2012.