Brookland, located in Northeast DC near the Maryland border, is streetcar suburb comprised mainly of bungalows and other similar houses. The neighborhood is home to more than 60 Catholic institutions, making it by some counts the densest collection outside Rome. Among them are Catholic University, the only college in the United States under the direct patronage of the Vatican; the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic church in the Western Hemisphere; and the Franciscan Monastery.

It's been said that Washington has pieces of the North, South and Midwest. If the density and urbanity make it Northern, and the large Black population and lack of heavy industry make it Southern, then it's Brookland that makes Washington Midwestern. More than just the presence of so many religious institutions, the physical environment of Brookland emits a more Midwestern character than other DC neighborhoods. It's not as dense - populated with few of the District's traditional rowhouses and more by detached bungalows. It's not as old, and it's a whole lot quieter than most of the other college neighborhoods in the city. Indeed, walking in Brookland one might just as easily think one were in a close-in neighborhood of Denver or Cleveland.