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Neighborhood Highlights

The Kensington neighborhood is locateed north of Plyers Mill Road and south of University, bordered on the west by St. Paul and St. Margaret's on the east. This is a vibrant and eclectic residental neighborhood with approximately 600 homes. On the northern border is Wheaton Plaza with grocery shopping, banking, and public transportation in close proximity.

The community now called Kensington Heights was part of the 1689 land grant of more than 4,200 acres called Joseph’s Park, extending roughly from what is now Georgia Avenue to Rock Creek and including what is now the town of Kensington and part of Wheaton. Originally consisting of large tracts of open farmland, Joseph’s Park was eventually broken into smaller parcels and sold, or leased to tenant farmers. Just before the Civil War, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad made public its plans to extend a branch of the railroad through this area from Washington. This announcement excited the real estate market and by the time the first train began stopping at Knowles Station (1873), a small community was already developing there. Between 1880 and 1890, 10 subdivisions were recorded in the area including Kensington Park, North Kensington, and apparently Kensington Heights. The train station’s name was changed from Knowles to Kensington in 1891, and the actual town of Kensington was incorporated in 1894.