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Alexander Smith HouseAlexander Smith House · Photo: Skye Marthaler · CC BY-SA 3.0
C+History
History · Brentwood

Brentwood’s post office opened in 1856, and 19 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns · #122 of 177 in Tennessee. What drives it

Most of Brentwood was built recently: 0.8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. 19 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 4 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1932 on and the census since 1970.

1856first post office
19on the National Register
0.8%homes built before 1940
10famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Brentwood began

When was Brentwood founded?

1856

The Brentwood post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Owen's (1874), Carpenters (1890) and Callender (1900), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 4,099 in 19702020 census: 45,373170 years

How historic is Brentwood?

C+

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Brentwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Brentwood’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brentwood is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #122 of 177 in Tennessee. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Brentwood’s overall grade.
Founding era1856, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.8% of homes (±0.6) · typical TN town 4.9% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register19 listings, 42 historic buildings, 9.2 per 10,000 residents · typical TN town 6.1 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 35%
NewerOlder
Tennessee towns of 2,500+ (177)Ahead of 31%

Tennessee towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Tennessee town has 6.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Brentwood’s 9.2 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 42 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share (±0.6 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Brentwood’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Brentwood, and 62 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Brentwood are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register19 places on the National Register.Famous sons and daughtersDawson Knox, Robbie Ray and 8 more were born here.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Brentwood’s post office has been open since 1856. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Brentwood
1856–today
Owen's
1874–1876
Carpenters
1890–1903
Callender
1900–1906
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Belle RiveBelle Rive HighlandsBoxwood HallBrenthaven EastBrenthaven NorthBrenthaven SouthBrentwood EstatesBrentwood HillsBrentwood ParkBrentwood PointeBrentwood SouthBrentwood StationCallenderCambridge HillsCarondeletCarpentersCarriage HillsChestnut HillConcord Country EstatesConcord ForestCountry Club EstatesCrockett CoveCrockett HillsCrockett Springs
Gone or out of use
Anderson AirportairportAshlawn PlantationlocaleBeech Creek ChurchchurchBoiling Spring AcademyschoolCotton Port PlantationlocaleForge Seat PlantationlocaleGreen Pastures PlantationlocaleHolt MinemineHoltland PlantationlocaleInglehame PlantationlocaleIsola Bella PlantationbuildingMaple Lawn PlantationlocaleMayfields StationlocaleMidway PlantationlocaleMount View PlantationlocaleMurray Ohio AirportairportPleasant Hill PlantationlocaleRavenwood Plantationlocale
10cemeteries and burying grounds inside Brentwood
BrooksButtCrockettGreen HillHailey - RashHamorHoltJohnson ChapelOwenPrimm

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Brentwood’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Brentwood’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

19 historic places in Brentwood

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed
19
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
42
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Mooreland
MoorelandJames Johnston HouseRavenswoodOak HallOwen Chapel Church of ChristMountviewAndrew Crockett House, built 1800John Frost HouseJohn M. Winstead HousesOwen-Cox HouseOwen-Primm House, built 1806William Martin HouseSamuel Crockett HouseThomas Holt HouseAlexander Smith House, built 1800Fewkes Group Archeological SiteConstantine Sneed HouseDenny P. Hadley HouseWSM Radio Transmission Complex
BuildingsDistricts
MoorelandBuilding
James Johnston HouseBuilding
RavenswoodBuilding
Oak HallBuilding
Owen Chapel Church of ChristBuilding
MountviewBuilding
Andrew Crockett HouseBuilt 1800
John Frost HouseBuilding
All 19 listings
John M. Winstead HousesBuilding · listed 1988Owen-Cox HouseBuilding · listed 1988Owen-Primm HouseBuilding · listed 1988William Martin HouseBuilding · listed 1988Samuel Crockett HouseBuilding · listed 1988Thomas Holt HouseBuilding · listed 1988Alexander Smith HouseBuilding · listed 2005Fewkes Group Archeological SiteDistrict · listed 1980Constantine Sneed HouseBuilding · listed 1988Denny P. Hadley HouseBuilding · listed 1988WSM Radio Transmission ComplexDistrict · listed 2011

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Brentwood came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Brentwood.

Read it all →

Successive cultures of prehistoric Native Americans occupied this area for thousands of years. In the first millennium of the Common Era (CE), Mississippian culture people, known locally as the Mound Indians or Stone Box Indians, built complex earthwork mounds topped with ceremonial buildings. Their settlement was part of a culture that spread throughout the Mississippi Valley and its major tributaries, and traded with other groups across the continent.

ChaptersEuropean-American settlementCivil War20th century to present

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Brentwood, 1800 to 1996

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1800BuiltAndrew Crockett House is built
  3. 1800BuiltAlexander Smith House is built
  4. 1806BuiltOwen-Primm House is built
  5. 1856Post officeThe Brentwood post office opens
  6. 1874Post officeThe Owen's post office opens
  7. 1876Post officeThe Owen's post office closes
  8. 1890Post officeThe Carpenters post office opens
  9. 20th century
  10. 1903Post officeThe Carpenters post office closes
  11. 1932On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  12. 1940Born hereThelma Harper is born here
  13. 1991Born hereRobbie Ray is born here
  14. 1996Born hereDawson Knox is born here
  15. 1996Born hereVan Jefferson is born here
By decade

Brentwood, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Brentwood Battlefield Tennessee2009Brentwood Battlefield TennesseeRyan Kamm tuning the mighty Kay bass, Nashville Symphony at Brentwood's Crockett Park, May 13. 20072007Ryan Kamm tuning the mighty Kay bass, Nashville Symph…Nashville Brentwood Building Office LBMC2006Nashville Brentwood Building Office LBMC
On the map

Brentwood on the map, 1932 to 1997

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brentwood. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Brentwood on the 1932 USGS mapBrentwood on the 1953 USGS mapBrentwood on the 1968 USGS mapBrentwood on the 1983 USGS mapBrentwood on the 1997 USGS map1932Nashville sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Brentwood.

People over time

Brentwood, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00019802000202045,373

Grew from 4,099 people in 1970 to 45,373 in 2020, more than tenfold.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brentwood’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

10 famous people were born in Brentwood

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Dawson KnoxAmerican football player · b. 1996
Robbie RayAmerican professional baseball player · b. 1991
Van JeffersonAmerican football player · b. 1996
Thelma HarperAmerican politician · b. 1940
Andrew BumbaloughAmerican long-distance runner · b. 1987
John VaughnAmerican football player · b. 1984
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Franklin54 historic placesB+Nolensville4 historic placesB−Nashville194 historic placesB+

Questions about Brentwood’s history

What year was Brentwood founded?

The Brentwood post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Brentwood rank for history?

Brentwood is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #122 of 177 in Tennessee. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Brentwood?

19 listings: 17 buildings, among them the Mooreland (listed 1975, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Fewkes Group Archeological Site and the WSM Radio Transmission Complex, with 4 contributing buildings. 42 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Brentwood?

0.8% of Brentwood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1996.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (19), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.