[4] The houses along Orleans and Park Place on the southern end of the district are generally smaller and built on more compact lots than those further north along Grand Avenue.

It is believed that most of the homes are architect-designed even though only a few names are known, and they follow a variety of architectural designs that were popular at the time they were built.

[7] The city became the location for four Union army camps and four hospitals to care for wounded troops from April 17, 1862, until October 1, 1865.

[8][9] After the war ended, many veterans returned to Keokuk to settle and start businesses along the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers.

One pre-war resident was Samuel Clemons, who worked in his older brother Orion's printing business in 1855-1857 and he gave his first after-dinner talk in January 1856 before he became an author with the pen name Mark Twain.