Today is ABC Wednesday and “B” is for “Brown Town.”  The Brown Town neighborhood is located at North Elm at Cone Boulevard and backs up to Kirkwood and Irving Park.*  This part of town is called Brown Town because it was developed by the Brown Corporation- in the 1950’s. Recently, there was momentum for Brown Town to pursue a Neighborhood Conservation Overlay (NCO) designation. ** The purpose of an NCO is to ensure that a neighborhood maintains its unique characteristics and that structures built are compatible with the character of the neighborhood. While the designation is less restrictive than “historic district” , NCO’s can help build a sense of communty in a neighborhood. This drive was partly due to the controversy over what would be (torn down and) built at the northwest corner of Cornwalis & Elm. Now that the former structure has been removed and the new one is in place, the momentum for the overlay seems to be diminished.

Did you know that, unless there is some designation that affects zoning, the city doesn’t determine or outline the boundaries of a neighborhood. Some properties are clearly in a given neighborhood and others are more ambiguous. 

The above house, located at 2304 Danbury Road, is a real gem and the recent landscaping and renovations give it real curb appeal (see before here). It has a more modern look than many of the houses in the neighborhood. It is one of the few houses in Brown Town that isn’t hidden by mature bushes and trees and, therefore, it is easy to photograph. Follow our ABC Neighborhoods series here. We’re hoping that O. Henry Magazine or the News & Record or Our State Magazine will research and write about Brown Town. As a matter of fact, we still need to settle the issue of whether this house on Danbury is in Brown Town or Browntown!

*see map here.

** see information and data collected for Brown Town’s possible NCO here &  here.