Both the neighborhood of Grant Park and the 131-acre park take their shared name from railroad executive Lemuel P. Grant.

The park was a gift to the City of Atlanta from Grant and was designed by John Charles Olmsted, the stepson of Frederick Law Olmsted. It became an urban haven where people came to "take the waters" from its natural springs, canoe on Lake Abana, and stroll the winding pathways in the pastoral park. A neighborhood sprang up around this oasis and was filled with homes that were designed in the spirit of Victorian painted ladies, Craftsman bungalows, Queen Anne, and New South cottages. In 1979, the structures within the neighborhood and park were placed on the National Register of Historic Places.