The region, which was outside of central Kyiv, was known as Lybidska zemlya
(land of Lybid) until the 19th century. It included the small villages (sloboda)
of Verkhnyolybidske and Nyzhnyolybidske. [1] The area's current name,
Demiivka of Khotiv volost, was adopted sometime in the second half of the
19th century.[1] David Margolin, a businessman from Kyiv, established a
private city tramway firm in Demiivka in 1909. It was included into Kyiv in
1918 and went by the name Stalinka from the 1920s until the 1960s.[1] The
area is described under this name in the 1997–1999 novel "Stalinka" by
Ukrainian author Oles Ulianenko, which was awarded the junior Shevchenko
National Prize. In the 1970s, the majority of the older buildings in the area
were already demolished.[1]