Editing North Brentwood, Maryland (section)

=== 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.<ref name="mml">{{cite web|url=http://www.mdmunicipal.org/cities/index.cfm?townname=NorthBrentwood&page=home|title=North Brentwood, Maryland History|date=May 10, 2008|work=North Brentwood, Maryland|publisher=Maryland Municipal League|access-date=August 4, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040828131659/http://www.mdmunicipal.org/cities/index.cfm?townname=NorthBrentwood&page=home|archive-date=August 28, 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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 [[United States Government Printing Office|Government Printing Office]], [[United States Patent and Trademark Office|Patent Office]] examiner, and inventor originally from [[Warsaw (town), New York|Warsaw, New York]]. Captain Bartlett lived in Washington, D.C., until 1887, when he purchased {{convert|206|acre|km2}} 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.<ref name="sha">{{cite web|url=http://www.sha.maryland.gov/oppen/pg_co.pdf |title=Community Summary Sheet, Prince George's County|date=May 10, 2008|work=North Brentwood, Maryland|publisher=Maryland State Highway Administration, 1999}}</ref><ref>''The Neighborhoods of Prince George's County''. Upper Marlboro: Community Renewal Program, 1974.</ref>

In 1891, the Company platted a residential subdivision called "Holladay Company's Addition to Highland" on {{convert|80|acre|m2}} of the Bartlett Farm. The lots were approximately {{convert|40|ft|m}} by {{convert|100|ft|m}} 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]].<ref name="Pearl">Pearl, Susan G. Historical Survey: Brentwood, Maryland. Upper Marlboro: M-NCPPC, 1992.</ref>  The first lots in the northern section were purchased in 1891 by Henry Randall, an African-American man from [[Anne Arundel County, Maryland|Anne Arundel County]], who built a house on Holladay Avenue (now [[U.S. Route 1 in Maryland|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, Maryland|Brentwood]] in 1922, Jeremiah Hawkins pushed for the incorporation of North Brentwood.<ref name ="Denny">Denny, George D., Jr. ''Proud Past, Promising Future: Cities and Towns in Prince George's County''. Brentwood, Maryland: Tuxedo Press, 1997.</ref>