The name Trinidad is believed to come from a former owner of the land who lived on the island nation of Trinidad and planned to relocate here but who died before he could fulfill his plan.

The land passed to and from the Corcoran family who used it as a country estate, to Columbian College, which later became George Washington University, and then to the Washington Brick Machine Company. The brickworks intended to excavate clay from the land, but not needing all of the land, began selling off parcels, and, in the late 1800s, the first houses in southern Trinidad were built.

Many of the row houses are built in a flat porch-fronted style (similar to craftsman style) that gained popularity during the 1920s. Northern portions of Trinidad were developed later, some parts as late as the 1940s.