For centuries, the mills along the Salzbach were the only places of residence in the area of today's borough. Alongside inns and taverns, they were among the town's most important businesses in the Middle Ages. From 1842, the first country houses were built near the Neumühle on today's Mainzer Straße according to plans by architect Eugen Jahn. In the following decades, more and more villas were built, especially east of Bierstadter Strasse and on Frankfurter Strasse. Villas were also built around Biebricher Allee in the 1870s.

With the expansion of the town to the east beyond the boundaries of the so-called historic pentagon, the construction of villas and townhouses began in the second half of the 19th century. A little later, between 1880 and 1890, central facilities such as St. Joseph's Hospital, the power station, gasworks and abattoir were built. The main railway station was completed in 1906 and formed an important hub in the city's development. This was followed by the Municipal Museum (now Museum Wiesbaden), schools and detached houses.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, there were only a few buildings on Schiersteiner Berg. In the years after 1900, the development of multi-storey residential buildings south of the Ringstrasse was pushed forward. The Gutenberg School, the Landeshaus, the Protestant Luther Church and the Catholic Holy Trinity Church were built here in a short space of time.

In 1908 and 1909, the southern cemetery was laid out far outside the development boundary. The Schwarzenberg estate was built in its vicinity. From the 1930s onwards, further residential land was developed and built on to the north-east of Siegfriedstraße (now Siegfriedring).

The 1950s saw one of the largest housing developments in the district. Apartment blocks, villas and detached houses were built. In the following decades, important large-scale projects were realized, including the Ministry of the Interior, the military district administration, the main post office (which has since been demolished), the new construction of the main state archive on Mosbacher Straße and numerous other government buildings, such as the government center on Schiersteiner Berg - which is now being redesigned.

In the fall of 1954, the first construction phase of the large American housing estate on Hainer Berg was completed. Almost a thousand apartments were built there for members of the occupying forces. This led to a noticeable easing of the housing situation in the city as a whole, as houses previously confiscated by the US Army were released again. Until the 1990s, the American presence left its mark on the district, also through the Wiesbaden Medical Center (today's police headquarters on Konrad-Adenauer-Ring), which was known worldwide for its treatment of war casualties.

In front of many houses there are stumbling blocks, small brass plaques in the ground bearing the names of the former residents. They commemorate the people who were murdered during the National Socialist era.