It is an older suburban subdivision, composed of a near-even mix of single-family detached houses and multiple-unit apartment and semi-detached dwellings.

[4] Albert Hanson, a noted Saskatoon real estate agent, bought land in the Sutherland area beginning in 1905.

[4] The area of Sutherland was built up as the CPR yards and station were constructed 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Saskatoon.

Hanson subdivided the rest of his land as residential and commercial properties, laid out on a typical north–south grid pattern.

Most of the subsequent population growth occurred on Hanson's land west of the tracks, due in part to the lack of schools or parks on the east side.

The area became a regional commercial hub, and continues to be so today (The Centre shopping mall is located there), although the Central Avenue link was removed with the development of College Park in the late 1960s (the portion of Central Avenue south of College Drive became Acadia Drive).

At that time, Sutherland also expanded with the Dutch Growers (Reid/Adolph) subdivision north of 117th Street and west of Central Avenue.

The garden centre of the same name at the corner of Central Avenue and Attridge Drive served as the focal point of the development.

Further development in the neighbourhood occurred in 2003 when the Rutherford subdivision was built along undeveloped land north of Rita Crescent and south of the Canadian Pacific Railway line along a vacant stretch of 115th Street West.

In 1984, the Sutherland-Forest Grove Community Association was founded, with its stated goal of promoting and assisting in the educational, recreational and social programs for families in the two adjacent neighbourhoods.

On June 29, 2006, workers digging out fuel tanks at the Mac's convenience store on 108th Street and Central Avenue (now Circle K) unearthed human remains.

Her body had been preserved in a mixture of gasoline and water, enabling forensic archeologists to extract a DNA sample.

[17] In 2009, Saskatoon police released a 3-D facial reconstruction and several composite sketches of the victim, in the hope of solving the case.

Technically, all businesses located on the east side of Central Avenue north of 108th Street actually lie within the Sutherland Industrial subdivision, but most locals do not make this distinction.

Protests from area residents resulted in the plan being dropped; the grocery store was instead built on 8th Street East, and as of 2022 official city maps show the remnant land as earmarked for "future residential" though no time frame for development has as yet been announced.

In 2007, Saskatoon's city council held off further commercial development in the northeast, to halt a further decline in the business district.