Forest Avenue originally showed on maps as "Kellogg Street"-undoubtedly in honor of Capt. Augustus Kellogg (U.S. Navy), who built a huge home at the corner of West Montgomery Avenue and Williams Street in 1889. Kellogg Street ran north from the main road out of town (now Route 28) into farmland at the edge of Margaret Beall's property (the Beall-Dawson house).

By 1890, three handsome Victorian homes sat on the west side of Kellogg Street. As recently farmed land, the lots initially were bare of trees, and so the wooded view across the street inspired the name "Forest Avenue."

Close to the center of Rockville, Forest Avenue still has a small-town feeling. Brick sidewalks, in the herringbone pattern prescribed by the town in 1888, pass by stone blocks formerly used to assist entry onto horse-drawn carriages. Huge trees now surround gracious homes that show off the work of some of Rockville's finest builders-Thomas C. Groomes, Edwin M. West, and Franklin H. Karn.