Look ahead for a stately, light-colored mansion with tall windows and a small porch supported by classic columns, standing proudly behind a decorative black fence-this is Brooks Mansion.
Alright, story time! Imagine you’re stepping back into the 1840s, where you’d see Colonel Jehiel Brooks, a weathered War of 1812 vet, showing off his brand-new Greek Revival mansion-maybe even bragging a little to the neighbors. He called the place Bellair, and he shared it with his wife, Ann Margaret Queen, who-fun fact-was the daughter of one of the biggest landowners in the city. The house sat on a massive 246-acre plantation, with rolling fields and quiet country roads where the only “traffic jam” was a runaway horse.
But times change! After the Brooks family moved on, the land was sold off, split up, and-voilà-the suburb of Brookland was born. Brooks Mansion itself transformed many times: it became a boarding house, then a home for the Marist Brothers, who even stuck on an extra wing (because who doesn’t want more room for activities?). The Benedictine Sisters arrived in 1905, filling the mansion with the excited chatter of young students at St. Anthony’s Academy, and later offering shelter for women in need. By 1928, with women now admitted to Catholic University, the mansion buzzed with the energy of high schoolers at St. Anthony’s.
Hidden behind those elegant columns and windows are stories of faith, learning, and a few hard-fought property deals. Today, after more twists and turns-a stopover with the Metro authority, a brush with the endangered places list-Brooks Mansion stands as a guardian of neighborhood tales and a hub for community TV (DCTV). That’s a history worth a peek, don’t you think?
