Kensington

History

The area around Rock Creek where Kensington is located was primarily agricultural until 1873, when the B&O Railroad completed the Metropolitan Branch across Montgomery County. A community arose where the new railroad line intersected the old Rockville-to-Bladensburg road. This early settlement was first known as "Knowles Station". In the early 1890s, Washington developer Brainard Warner began purchasing land parcels to build a planned Victorian community, complete with church, library, and local newspaper. Fascinated by a recent trip to London, Warner named his development "Kensington Park", the tenth and largest subdivision in the area. When the town was incorporated in 1894, Warner convinced the mayor and council to name it Kensington. Originally a farming community at Knowles Station, Kensington developed into a summer refuge for Washington residents wishing to escape the capital's humidity. As years passed and more residents remained year-round, Kensington evolved into a commuter suburb. Commuters reached downtown Washington, D.C., on B&O passenger trains and, beginning in 1895, a streetcar line founded as Chevy Chase Lake & Kensington Railway and later called the Kensington Railway Company. The large southernmost section originally mapped out by Warner remains largely unchanged, and is a historically preserved zone. The only major changes in the town's basic layout have been the bridging of the original railroad crossing in 1937, and the extension and widening of Connecticut Avenue, the town's main thoroughfare, in 1957. As well, the right-of-way of the streetcar line, which was replaced with bus service in 1935, was paved to become Kensington Parkway. In March 1975, Kensington gained attention regionally when Sheila and Katherine Lyon walked to Wheaton Plaza,…

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Montgomery Blair High
  High · Silver Spring · 3,204 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• Walter Johnson High
  High · Bethesda · 2,942 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Wheaton High
  High · Silver Spring · 2,599 students · 16.6:1 ratio
• Gaithersburg High
  High · Gaithersburg · 2,436 students · 14.3:1 ratio
• Richard Montgomery High
  High · Rockville · 2,390 students · 17.8:1 ratio
• Bethesda-Chevy Chase High
  High · Bethesda · 2,335 students · 18:1 ratio
• Winston Churchill High
  High · Potomac · 2,234 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Paint Branch High
  High · Burtonsville · 2,135 students · 16.4:1 ratio