Pell City’s earliest neighborhood was the Residential District on the northern boundary of the Downtown Historic District, where many of the city’s earliest leaders involved in its growth and development chose to live. The city was incorporated in 1891 and named for George Hamilton Pell of New York, a leading investor in the railroad that influenced its location. After the Panic of 1893 nearly caused the town to disappear, Sumter Cogswell’s vision and leadership helped revive it in 1902. The homes of Sumter Cogswell and Green Evans, Pell City’s first mayor, are among the earliest structures, dating from the late nineteenth century. The district consists of sixteen full and partial blocks centered on First, Second, and Third Avenues North and contains 105 historic structures, with most houses dating from 1902 to 1930. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 20, 2001.