It was founded on February 17, 1590 by San Pedro Bautista. It was meant to be a place for retreat for residents in Intramuros in Manila. The street's old name Retiro,(now called N.S. Amoranto Sr. Avenue) came from the word retiro, meaning retreat, because it offers a place of solitude nestled atop a hill to many retreatants, but it really came from Jose Rizal's poem title Mi Retiro (Spanish of "My Retreat"). The church located in San Francisco del Monte was the first building in the area. It is named after St. Francis of Assisi.

It was an independent town during the Spanish era that had an area of 250 acres (1.0 km2) of land filled with wildlife and trees. It was later absorbed by Quezon City when it was created. Today, it is a heavily populated district. Although it contains many residential areas such as Barangay San Antonio, there are many industrial facilities here, mostly found along Judge Juan Luna street. The two main intersections of this area are Roosevelt Ave. and Del Monte Ave.

When it was first founded, it was around 2.5 km² in area. It reached out to what is currently Project 7 and 8 and all the way out to Timog Ave area. Currently, it is composed of Brgy. Paraiso, Paltok, Masambong, Damayan and Del Monte.

Here also resides a private-catholic college Siena College of Quezon City.