North Brentwood is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 593 at the 2020 census. The municipality of North Brentwood is located north of Washington and is surrounded by the communities of Brentwood, Hyattsville, and Cottage City, and the nearby Mount Rainier. The Town of North Brentwood was incorporated in 1924, and was the first African-American-majority municipality in Maryland.
History
19th century
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, including the Plummer, Wallace, and Johnson families. They built two-story front-gable frame houses, as well as free-standing rowhouses. In 1898, the City and Suburban Railway was completed through Randallstown. By 1904 that name had been replaced by Brentwood. In the early 1900s, development was faster than in the southern areas also platted by Bartlett. A school and a church were built in 1904, and the Brentwood Colored Citizens Association was formed in 1907. The association helped acquire volunteers for a fire company, fire-fighting equipment, a community hall, and electric lights. After Bartlett's neighboring development was incorporated as the town of Brentwood in 1922, Jeremiah Hawkins pushed for the incorporation of North Brentwood.
Incorporation
In April 1924, Delegate Charles B. Ager sponsored a bill to incorporate North Brentwood. The bill proposed a mayor, three council members, and a treasurer, all popularly elected. Republican Jeremiah Hawkins ran unopposed for the town's first mayor. Peter Randall and Frank Baden ran for Council member representing ward one.
Growth
The town continued to grow after incorporation. In September 1924, the town's first school, a three-room schoolhouse, was built. During the 1930s and 1940s, new homes were built, mostly bungalows and brick Cape Cod houses. New streets were laid out, while the existing streets were paved, extended, and renamed. Much of the community is located within the North Brentwood Historic District; listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="width:98%"
! |
! width = 25% | Site name
! width = 8% class="unsortable" | Image
! |Location
! class="unsortable" | M-NCPPC Inventory Number
! class="unsortable" | Comment
|--
! | <small>1</small>
| African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of Brentwood
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4037 Webster Street
| 68-61-11
| <!-- Comment goes here -->
|--
! | <small>2</small>
| Mack Brown House
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 3907 Wallace Road
| 68-61-4
| <!-- Comment goes here -->
|--
! | <small>3</small>
| Foursquares on Webster Street
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 3914, 3916, and 3918 Webster Street
| 68-61-13
| <!-- Comment goes here -->
|--
! | <small>4</small>
| Jeremiah Hawkins House Site
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4114 Webster Street
| 68-61-1
| Demolished in 1991.
|-
! | <small>5</small>
|Wigginton-Brown-Bellows House
|
|4005 Wallace Road
|68-61-24
|Demolished in 2009.
|--
! | 6
| Edith Mason House
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4501 41st Avenue
| 68-61-8
| <!-- Comment goes here -->
|--
! | 7
| McKenzie-Bullock House Site
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4538 41st Avenue
| 68-61-9
| Demolished in 1992 following fire.
|--
! | 8
| Nelson-Queen House Site
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4505 Church Street
| 68-61-10
| Demolished in 1993 to allow for expansion of Town Hall.
|--
! | 9
| Henry Newton House
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4502 Church Street
| 68-61-12
| <!-- Comment goes here -->
|--
! | 10
| Robert Orr House
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4528 40th Street
| 68-61-2
| <!-- Comment goes here -->
|--
! | <small>11</small>
| Owings Houses
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4533, 4535, and 4537 41st Avenue
| 68-61-5
| <!-- Comment goes here -->
|--
! | <small>12</small>
| A.A. Randall House
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4504 41st Avenue
| 68-61-7
| <!-- Comment goes here -->
|--
! | <small>13</small>
| Peter Randall House
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4508 Rhode Island Avenue
| 68-61-37
| Built in 1892, it is the oldest dwelling in North Brentwood.
|--
! | <small>14</small>
| Seaburn House
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 4529 41st Avenue
| 68-61-6
| <!-- Comment goes here -->
|--
! | <small>15</small>
| William H. Thomas House
| <!-- Image goes here -->
| 3911 Wallace Road
| 68-61-3
| <!-- Comment goes here -->
|}
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.