History of our Town

The Town of Kensington, Maryland is known to its citizens as the Town where "the train still stops and the citizens still walk". The history of Kensington started decades before the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad constructed the Metropolitan Branch line from Washington, DC to Point of Rocks, Maryland in 1873. The Metropolitan Branch line bisected property owned by Mr. and Mrs. George Knowles. The train stopped a Knowles Station in recognition of George Knowles' property. This Station facilitated commerce to Knowles and the other farmers in the immediate area. Soon after the death of Knowles, parcels of land from the estate were sold. A significant portion of the Knowles estate and some of other surrounding land in the vicinity of the Knowles Station provided the natural setting of several hundred houses that emerged into Kensington of today. The name, Kensington did not surface until 1894. By 1890, the village of Knowles Station, as it was known then, experienced rapid growth and its growing governance and infrastructure needs could not be accommodated by the County. In 1894 a bill was introduced into the Maryland legislature to create the municipality known as the Town of Kensington. The Town's governance is through a Mayor and four Town Councilmen a procedure continued through today.

Following the incorporation of the Town of Kensington work started to maintain the muddy streets with planks and oyster shells. Oil Lamps were installed followed by the first brick sidewalks. Cinders replaced the boards and oyster shells in the 1920s and by the 1930s the streets were paved. During these early days wind mills located at most of the properties facilitated hand pumping of well water into individual reservoirs located in the attics of Town buildings for household and business use. Wells and pumps were installed at all properties during the early days of World War I that was followed by a sewer system and in 1922 the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission took over control of the sanitary system. By the end of World War II the Town's infrastructure was completed. The Town's government maintains and improves its streets, sidewalks, lighting, parks, and municipal buildings.

Reference: Townsend, Wilson, L., Knowles Station and The Town of Kensington 1870-1963, Montgomery County Historical Society, 1963.

MORE HISTORY:  Kensington was once a land grant called Joseph's Park, later purchased by Daniel Carroll (a signer of the Declaration of Independence), who sold parcels to various farmers.  After the Metropolitan Line of the B & O came through the area stopping here at Knowles Station, the farming community grew quickly.

The Kensington Park Subdivision was created when Brainard Warner purchased property to the south of the station from Brown/Jones in 1890.  Mr. Warner built his own home on the location of the old Brown farmhouse and used it as a summer retreat from the big city of Washington, D.C.  The streets around his mansion were layed out with the curvilinear street patterns still seen today. He sold the surrounding land in parcels to his friends and others so they could build in the area, and created a "garden suburb" designed after his favored Kensington, England.
In 1893,  Warner convinced his friend Crosby Noyes, editor and publisher of the Washington Star, to donate books for the library he had built on the land he donated across the street from his mansion. Because of his great influence, Warner was able to convince others to name the town, the post office and train station "Kensington" when the town was incorporated in 1894. Warner organized a stock company to build the first town hall.  The Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church still sits upon a triangular piece of land at Washington, Connecticut and Calvert Streets that he donated and helped finance.   He was active in the establishment of the Kensington Electric Railway (known to locals as the Toonerville trolley) which traveled up the Parkway from Chevy Chase and through town on Howard Avenue. 

From 1914 to around 1950, the mansion served as the home of Frederick McKenney.  After that, the mansion was sold and occupied as a nursing home. The Warner Mansion became the central focus for the surrounding area's listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1986, the Kensington Historic District was included on the Montgomery County Master Plan for Historic Preservation described as "a Victorian-era garden suburb."

Brainard Warner is still considered by many as the "the founder of Kensington."  His home and surrounding garden area remain as a beautiful reminder to the Town's long history.

Click here to see a map of the District. The shaded areas on the attached map represents the Town of Kensington's Historic District.

Addresses within the Historic District:

 

Armory Avenue	10301 10305 10307 10309 10312 10314 10316 10401 10409 10415 10417
Baltimore Street	3806 3807 3908 3911 3913 3914 3915 3919 3920 3923 3924 3927 3928 3929 3934 3935 3940 3941 3944 3947 3948 3951
Calvert Place	3709 3819
Carroll Place	10214 10216 10220 10226 10231
Circle Manor	10232 10234 10237
Noyes Library
Connecticut Avenue	10115 10205 10209 10211 10308
Fawcett Street	10300 10302 10306 10310 10313 10314 10318 10319 10320 10401 10403 10405 10406 10407 10409 10410 10411
Fawcett Apts.	10413 10415 10416 10419 10421 10422 10423 10425 10426
Freeman Place	10310 10311 10313 10314 10316
Howard Avenue	3716 3730 3732 3734 3738 3740 3742 3744 3746 3748 3750 3758 3762 3772 3774 3784 3786 3794
Kensington Parkway	10200 10202 10204 10206 10208 10210 10212 10214 10216 10218 10300 10302 10304 10310
Flinn Park	10312
Mitchell Street	3710  Town Hall/Armory
Maryland National Guard
Montgomery Avenue	10212 10213 10221 10225 10234 10303 10304 10308 10400 10405 10408 10410 10412 10414 10415 10420
Farmer's Banking & Trust Co.	(Original Kensington Bank)
Montgomery Avenue and B&O Tracks Kensington Railroad Station
Prospect Street	3903 3904 3905 3906 3908 3909 3911 3912 3915 3918 3922 3923 3924 3925 3926 3927 3928 3929 3932 4010 4011
St. Paul Street	10500 10531 10535 10537 10543 10547 10549 10600 10606 10608
Warner Street	3810 3812 3820 3824
Washington Street	3708 3710 3714 3716 3800 3802 3804 3806 3808 3810 3814 3820 3904 3905 3906 3907 3909 3910 3912 3913 3914 3915 3916 3919 3920 3922 3923 3924 3925 3926 3927 3928 3929 3930 3932 3936 3939 3940 3941 3942 3947 3948