North Brentwood

History

The town is named after the Brentwood estate built in 1817 by Robert Brent in Northeast Washington, D.C. The town was originally settled by African-American veterans of the American Civil War, who purchased lots from their former commander, Capt. Wallace A. Bartlett, beginning in 1887. The town was developed beginning in the 1890s around the Highland Station of the Washington Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Columbia and Maryland Railway. "Brentwood" was created by Wallace A. Bartlett, a Civil War veteran, former foreman for the Government Printing Office, Patent Office examiner, and inventor originally from Warsaw, New York. Captain Bartlett lived in Washington, D.C., until 1887, when he purchased of farmland from Benjamin Holliday, which abutted the Highland subdivision. Bartlett built a farmhouse for his family on the land and, with two partners J. Lee Adams and Samuel J. Mills, formed the Holladay Land and Improvement Company. In 1891, the Company platted a residential subdivision called "Holladay Company's Addition to Highland" on of the Bartlett Farm. The lots were approximately by and were arranged around an irregular grid of streets. The lots in the northern part of the subdivision, which eventually would become North Brentwood, were smaller and were subject to flooding from a mill race. The first lots in the northern section were purchased in 1891 by Henry Randall, an African-American man from Anne Arundel County, who built a house on Holladay Avenue (now Rhode Island Avenue). In 1894, Randall's son, Peter Randall, constructed a house next to his father's. More family members moved into the community and built homes, and the area soon became known as Randallstown. Other African-American families soon moved to the neighborhood,…

Geography

North Brentwood is located at (38.944111, -76.951650). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  164,369
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  150,630
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  125,733
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  124,631
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  122,302
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  114,899
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  112,632
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  105,843

Largest nearby schools

• High Point High
  High · Beltsville · 3,003 students · 18.4:1 ratio
• Charles Herbert Flowers High
  High · Springdale · 2,569 students · 21.1:1 ratio
• Parkdale High
  High · Riverdale · 2,561 students · 16.3:1 ratio
• Eleanor Roosevelt High
  High · Greenbelt · 2,526 students · 20.7:1 ratio
• Duval High
  High · Lanham · 2,503 students · 19.7:1 ratio
• Northwestern High
  High · Hyattsville · 2,346 students · 16.5:1 ratio
• Bladensburg High
  High · Bladensburg · 2,164 students · 16.5:1 ratio
• Suitland High
  High · Suitland · 1,834 students · 14.4:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2025-10-27
  4 km E of Riverside, Maryland
• M 2.6 — 2021-06-25
  2 km SE of Woodlawn, Maryland
• M 3.03 — 2016-01-17
  3 km NE of Ranson, West Virginia
• M 3.6 — 2010-07-16
  5 km NNW of Barnesville, Maryland