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The Fairmount Neighborhood's period of significance begins in 1877 with the partitioning of the King Family's Lynwood Plantation, known as the Fairmount Forrest. The sale of the land ushered in the first phase of residential construction and the development continued to about 1960. During that time, Bristol grew to become one of the region's most important cities and a vital part of the tri-cities development that took place around the turn of the century and continued up to the 1950s. The Fairmount Neighborhood was a highly celebrated aspect of the early growth and development of Bristol and it continued to play a role as social, economic, and residential housing conventions changed.

The Fairmount Neighborhood was built in response to the arrival of the railroads which spurred on industrial and social development of all kinds for the town of Bristol during the 1880s and beyond. That development gained momentum after 1900 with the formation of the Tennessee/Virginia Tri-Cities urbanization movement that sparked a rebirth of economic and social activity within the eastern Appalachian part of Tennessee and southwest Virginia. The neighborhood was an epicenter for the development of residential housing that blended many architectural styles and forms, which came to reflect the eclectic character of neighborhoods all across America at that time. Likewise, land improvement companies that developed the neighborhood were instrumental in transforming the area from a forested and oblique segment of an agrarian plantation to a bustling and thriving commercially oriented community.

Complete with railroads, trolley services, businesses, and homes, Fairmount was a crowning modern achievement in an otherwise obscure Appalachian village. The neighborhood resonates with working class bungalows and other modest asymmetrical plans together with high style homes that reflect a wealthier group.