The land that now comprises the Museum District was originally composed of large farming tracts situated west of Richmond's city center. Following the establishment of a streetcar network in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Richmond experienced rapid westward expansion. The area was originally known as "West of the Boulevard" and saw its primary wave of residential construction between 1910 and 1941.
A defining moment in the area's history was the 1936 opening of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, built on the grounds of a former Confederate veterans' home. Over the decades, the neighborhood grew around these cultural landmarks, evolving from a streetcar suburb into a dense, central urban neighborhood. Recognizing its highly intact collection of Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, and Mediterranean-influenced residential architecture, a large portion of the neighborhood was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.