Mount Winans was originally referred to as “Hull’s Village” and “Hullsville” after Charles J. Hull, who purchased this 50-acre tract in 1872. Hull developed a community of modest single-family and duplex homes for laborers who worked at nearby businesses including the B&O Railroad, stockyards and glassworks. In 1877, the B&O Railroad established Mount Winans Station, a passenger northwest of Hollins Ferry Road. It appears that this community was developed for African Americans and had both a post office and a “colored” school by the end of the 19th Century.

By the 1940s, the community was referred to exclusively as Mount Winans. In the 1940s,Mount Winans, along with Cherry Hill, was designated as a federal housing site for African American workers, and 140 public housing building units were constructed during World War II. The neighborhood began declining in the 1950s, like its surrounding neighborhoods, with loss of local industry and the closing of Mount Winans Station.

The neighborhood underwent urban renewal efforts in the 1960s and 1980s, both of which largely focused on renovating the 1940s-era public housing. The 1980s project was completed largely by Mount Winans residents, who took part in the City’s program to train low-income skilled workers to rehabilitate Baltimore properties.