[2] The District was developed in the early 20th century as a middle-class residential area with single-family homes, some duplexes and apartment buildings.

[a][3] It was the site of an amusement park in the early Twentieth Century, but is now notable for the number and architectural variety of houses and apartment buildings constructed in the 1920s and 1930s.

In 2011, the American Planning Association (APA) named Swan Lake as a Top Ten Great Neighborhood.

Colonel Orcutt originally rented the land from an unidentified member of the Creek tribe for the purpose of raising cattle.

[5] Other park facilities included an enclosed dance pavilion, a natatorium (swimming pool), an airdrome, and, later, a $7,600 roller-coaster.

[citation needed] The amusement park facilities (and the trolley line) are long gone, replaced by imposing mansions during the 1920s, but the lake remains to the present.

A 1983 city bond issue funded a major renovation campaign that brought the area back;[citation needed] 1986 saw the lake drained again, and by 1987 a $1 million facelift had been completed.

[citation needed] The large central concrete fountain fell into disrepair in 2000;[5] however, it was refurbished and returned to operational status in November 2024 after a $2.2 million renovation project funded by the City.

Two-story houses built around the lake from 1919 to the present represent a variety of architectural styles including Spanish, Georgian Revival and vernacular interpretations honoring the swan.

The remainder of the neighborhood is similar in scale, containing bungalows, two-story houses, quadruplexes and six-plexes of stone, clapboard and stucco.

[2] The United States is rich in culturally historic neighborhoods sometimes in plain sight or hidden among the many streets of the many large cities across the country.