Twinbrook
The first section of Twinbrook to be developed was the area south of Veirs Mill Road, with construction starting shortly after the original 1946 purchase of the property and the first owners taking possession of their home in September 1948. In a nod to the World War II veterans who would largely occupy the homes, the names of the streets of the southern section were largely taken from World War II engagements and related locations. There were multiple styles of homes in the development, though the most readily identified were the Cape Cod style homes identified as the “Famous Five” in the initial marketing and all featured large picture windows and finished first floors and unfinished second stories, which lowered the price for buyers and allowed them to finish the upstairs space to their own specifications.
The homes were initially offered at prices ranging from $9,250 to $11,500 and the government backed the mortgages 100 percent. Veterans were able to purchase a home with only a $50 down payment. By 1952 more than 300 houses had been built and in 1949 Rockville officially annexed Twinbrook into the city. Twinbrook, like other local residential developments, included racial restrictive covenants between 1947 and 1949. These covenants, designed to keep racial minorities from owning property in the neighborhood, fell in line with language from the Federal Housing Association, which encouraged or even required racial covenants in communities. The Federal Housing Association removed the language in December 1949 and by the 1950s Twinbrook’s racial restrictive covenants had disappeared.
The neighborhood still holds many families who have lived there for generations and welcomes new faces with its ever hustling housing market. Many homes have been renovated, but much of Twinbrook still retains its older character.