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The oldest section of Lutherville dates back to 1852, when it was founded by two Lutheran ministers as a planned community, anchored by a Lutheran seminary and church. The land was originally part of the vast Hampton Estate of Charles Ridgely, from whom it was purchased in 1851.

The two ministers, Benjamin Kurtz and John Morris, named the community after the 16th-century German reformer Martin Luther. The Lutherville Female Seminary, as it was initially called when chartered in 1853, was built near the tracks of the Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad, a forerunner of the Northern Central Railway. In 1895, the institution was renamed the Maryland College for Women. Following a devastating fire in 1911, the college was rebuilt and continued in operation until 1952. Its campus is now an adult congregate living facility, College Manor.

The Lutherville Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Notable structures, in addition to the old college building and the many Victorian homes, include:

• St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, started in 1856 by John Morris. The present stone sanctuary was built in 1898.
• St. John’s Methodist Church, built in 1869.
• Church of the Holy Comforter, an Episcopal church built in 1888.
• Oak Grove, the house of Lutherville founder John Morris, built in 1852 on Morris Avenue. Filmmaker John Waters lived in the Oak Grove house with his family as a teenager in the 1960s. Some of Waters’ earliest filmmaking efforts took place at the house.
• Octagon house on Kurtz Avenue, built of concrete in 1855 by another Lutheran minister who also served as the town’s postmaster.