The red brick sidewalk in front of the buildings was built in 1982 as part of citywide improvements for the 1982 World's Fair.

[1] The block containing the South Market Historic District was part of Lot 56 on Charles McClung's original 1791 plat of Knoxville.

[3] By the outbreak of the Civil War, most of Knoxville's commercial activity had shifted eastward to Gay Street and northward to Market Square and the railroad tracks.

[4][5] During the 1890s, as Knoxville grew more congested, large single-family houses began disappearing from the downtown area.

[1] Early occupants of the South Market Historic District included several prominent Knoxville physicians, among them J. M. Kennedy, C. E. Ristine, and S. R.