[1] Kalamazoo was first settled in 1829, and the acreage that makes up the current South Street Historic District was platted in 1839.

In the 1850s and 1860s, the neighborhood rapidly became a fashionable and upscale place to live, and larger and more elegant houses appeared in the district as upper-class citizens moved in.

Important local residents who lived in the district in the late 1800s included Allen Potter, the first mayor of Kalamazoo, Frank B.

[3] The original portion of the South Street Historic District contains twenty-nine 19th- and early 20th-century single-family houses dating from the 1840s to the 1910s.

These are of the same architectural styles as the original South Street houses, but also include early 20th-century Prairie and Craftsman examples.