Owen Brown is named for a postmaster and store owner.  Mr.Owen Brown operated a store on what is now the intersection of Route 108 and Manor Lane. The name was initially just a working title for the development, but the name stuck, according to a book by Missy Burke, Robin Emrich and Barbara Kellner, called "Oh, you must live Columbia! The origins of place names in Columbia, Maryland". The first residents moved to Owen Brown in 1973. Owen Brown became Columbia's fifth village in 1975.

Interesting Facts about Owen Brown

Village flower – the daffodil

Owen Brown has three neighborhoods: Dasher Green, Elkhorn, and Hopewell, named for an original land tract Lasell’s Hopewell. Elkhorn is named for a stream in the area. 

Owen Brown has 144 streets which have names taken from literature:

• Dasher Green- from the works of John Greenleaf Whittier
• Elkhorn – from the works of poet Paul Dunbar
• Hopewell – from works by Vachel Linday 

Dasher Green

The neighborhood is named for the Dasher Family.  George and Irvin Dasher owned close to 700 acres along Oakland Mills Road.  In 1963 the Dashers sold 670 acres to The Rouse Company but retained enough land to continue their beef and grain operation.  The farm continued until the late 1970s. The Dasher brothers sold the land except for two homesteads.  Irvin died in 1984 and George in 1991. Their wives, Grace and Marie, remained in their homes until 1993.  Grace sold her home and property, which became a townhouse development with streets named Cradlerock Farm Court and Dasher Farm Court.  Marie sold her land to Patriot Homes which built single family residences and named the street Dasher Court.

Elkhorn
 

The neighborhood name comes from the Elkhorn Branch of the Little Patuxent River. The river was dammed in 1973 to create Lake Elkhorn, Columbia's third and largest lake.

Hopewell
 

Laswell's Hopewell was an original land grant patented to Thomas Davis, Sr. in 1728 for 200 acres.