The area of present day Mechanicsville which contains the most intact number of historic structures was developed initially as Deaderick’s Addition, J.W. Swann’s Addition, and Moses Fairview Addition. This area contains the larger Queen Anne and Italianate houses built for factory owners and area businessmen, and the smaller cottages of factory workmen. The cohesiveness of the neighborhood comes from its tree-shaded streets and homes built on slight hills set equidistant from the street and each other.

Mechanicsville derives its name from the large number of factories that developed just outside its boundaries during the late 18th and early 20th centuries. It was settled around 1880. By 1883, Mechanicsville had a population of over 2,000. Most residents of the Mechanicsville worked in the factories and mills that surrounded the neighborhood. Mechanicsville, with its railroad and water source (Second Creek), quickly became the center for industrial activity in Knoxville.

A February 4, 1883 newspaper article in The Tribune described a bustling atmosphere with factories, handsome residences, small but comfortable cottages, three churches, two schools, six grocery and general stores, a greenhouse and four stores. Knoxville annexed Mechanicsville in 1883. At the time it had the largest number of manufacturers in Knoxville.

One of the first industries to locate in Mechanicsville was the Knoxville Iron Company, incorporated in 1868. Captain Hiram S. Chamberlain, president of Knoxville Iron Company was a Union Army Captain from Ohio and Chief Quartermaster of Knoxville at the close of the Civil War. He supplied the business knowledge, Welsh ironmasters furnished the technical knowledge, and a majority of African-Americans served as the labor for the company. The Knoxville Iron Company manufactured bar iron, nails, and railroad spikes, as well as ornamental iron. Ornamental iron fences and trim on houses in Mechanicsville are probably products of the Knoxville Iron Company.

Other industries in Mechanicsville included Knoxville Brewing Company, Knox Standard Handle, W.H. Evans & Son (suppliers of Italian marble), The Pottery and Pipe Works, Knoxville Box & Keg Factory, a railroad turntable factory, a broom factory, a soap factory, Cudley Planning Mill and Knoxville Car & Wheel.

The neighborhood was racially diverse from the time of its founding. The Welsh and some other workers were white, but industries near Mechanicsville always hired a number of African American workers. The people who lived in Mechanicsville were usually teachers, bookkeepers, salesmen, and manufacturing or railroad workers.

A school was first located in the neighborhood in 1875, when Col. John L. Moses deeded the land on Arthur Street for Fairview School. It was built by African American citizens for the African American children of Knoxville. Moses School occupies the site of Fairview School.

Cansler Street was named for Professor Charles W. Cansler, a lawyer, author and educator. His mother was the first African American teacher in Knoxville and many of his family members became teachers in the area schools. He worked with E. E. Patton, a member of the Tennessee State Senate, for legislation to provide playgrounds and parks for Knoxville African Americans and for other legislation which extended the rights of inheritance to African American citizens of Tennessee. He also was responsible for the establishment of a public library for African Americans in Knoxville with funds provided by the Carnegie Corporation.