North Atlanta becomes a city
Brookhaven History
Brookhaven's history is the story of unincorporated DeKalb deciding it wanted to be a city: decades as the loose collection of neighborhoods called North Atlanta, then the 2012 referendum that created the city.
The name itself came from the historic Brookhaven area around the Peachtree Road corridor, long a name on the map before it was a city.
Before the city
The North Atlanta decades
For most of the twentieth century the area was unincorporated DeKalb County served by county planning and the Atlanta-area postal names. The Brookhaven name marked the district along Peachtree Road, home to Oglethorpe University and the leafy neighborhoods that grew after the streetcar and the automobile arrived.
The vote
2012 and the new city
Residents voted in July 2012 to incorporate, and the city began operations that December. The first decade built the parks department, rebuilt Dresden Drive's street life, and turned a loose set of neighborhoods into a city with its own address.
An editorial guide, not a listings site. Updated September 13, 2026. Real-estate guidance on this page is provided by Rob Dietrich, REALTOR® with eXp Realty, LLC.