Brainard Warner

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Brainard Warner (May 20, 1847 – May 17, 1916) was a prominent businessman and land developer in the Washington, D.C., area, best known for founding Kensington, Maryland.[1]

Warner was born on May 20, 1847, in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. In 1863, he went to Washington and enlisted in the United States Army. He served as a government clerk in 1866, studied law under Thaddeus Stevens, and traveled around the American West as a newspaper correspondent. In 1869, he graduated from Columbian College Law School in Washington.[1]

Warner entered the real estate business, and ultimately built more than 1,000 houses in Washington.[1] In 1878, his offices were at 916 F Street NW.[2]

Washington Loan and Trust Company building in 2008

In 1887, he established the Columbia National Bank[3] at 911 F Street NW; it would operate independently until 1946[4] and is today part of Bank of America.[5][6][7] In 1889, he founded Washington Loan and Trust Company at 900 F Street NW[8]; it was acquired by Riggs Bank in 1954 and is now part of PNC Financial Services. He was also a director of numerous other banks. and helped start the Belt Line Railroad in Baltimore, Maryland.[1]

Kensington Plat (c. 1890)

In 1890, Warner bought 132 acres of farmland south of Knowles Station, a village along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Metropolitan Branch line in Montgomery County, Maryland. He subdivided it and sold lots along curving streets, aiming to create a suburb to evoke the district around Kensington Gardens in London. The B&O soon built a station to serve the developing area.[9]

In 1892, he built a Victorian mansion on the 4.5-acre oval at the heart of his subdivision as a retreat for his family from Washington. He entertained grandly, hosting congressmen, senators, and once, President William Howard Taft.[10] In 1910, his daughter Mary would wed in the house.[11]

In 1894, Warner and others chartered the Chevy Chase Lake & Kensington Railway, a three-mile streetcar line, to connect the newly incorporated town of Kensington to downtown Washington, D.C., some eight miles south, via the Rock Creek Railway streetcar line.[12]

Around 1900, Warner was serving as vice president of the Washington Public Library board of trustees when he "seized on a chance meeting with Andrew Carnegie" to ask him to fund public libraries in the city. Carnegie ultimately funded four, starting with the central library at Mount Vernon Square.[13] Opened in 1903, the library was the city's first desegregated public building.[14]

In 1906, Warner ran unsuccessfully to represent Maryland in the House of Representatives.[15]

Warner died in his home at 10 East Kirke Street[16] in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on May 17, 1916, several days after being stricken with paralysis.[1] He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.[16]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e "B.H. Warner Succumbs". The News. 1916-05-18. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-09-25.
  2. ^ "For Sale—Lots". The Washington Post. 1878-05-25. p. 4. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  3. ^ "The Brain and Energy of City's Progessive Real Estate Brokers". The Washington Post. 1907-02-24. pp. [Blank]. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  4. ^ "Columbia Bank Opens Tomorrow as Branch of American Security". Evening Star. 1946-12-01. p. 40. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  5. ^ "ANATOMY OF A SUCCESSFUL MERGER". The Washington Post. 1987-10-12. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  6. ^ "Nationsbank exercises option, takes over MNC Financial for $1.36 billion - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  7. ^ "NationsBank, BankAmerica Seal Merger". Los Angeles Times. 1998-10-01. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  8. ^ "Washington Loan and Trust Company - This 1890s office building is one of DC's most impressive Romanesque Revival buildings". DC Historic Sites. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  9. ^ "Town History". Kensington Historical Society. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  10. ^ "Warner Manor / 10231 Carroll Place". Kensington Historical Society. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  11. ^ "Warner-Cook wedding". The Washington Post. 1910-11-24. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  12. ^ "Town History – Kensington Historical Society". Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  13. ^ "HISTORIC PRESERVATION REVIEW BOARD APPLICATION FOR HISTORIC LANDMARK OR HISTORIC DISTRICT DESIGNATION / Southeast Branch Library" (PDF). DC Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
  14. ^ O'Connell, Jonathan (September 21, 2016). "Apple targets historic Carnegie Library for downtown flagship store". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  15. ^ "The Third Place » Spotlight on Wheaton's Black History | MontgomeryPlanning.org". montgomeryplanning.org. Retrieved 2025-09-26.
  16. ^ a b "Brainard H. Warner Is Called by Death". Evening Star. 1916-05-17. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-09-26.