The station was built on land formerly part of the African-American
Columbian Harmony Cemetery. When the station was constructed in 1976, workers discovered that not all the bodies had been moved. At least five coffins were unearthed, and numerous bones. It was replaced as the eastern terminus by
Silver Spring on February 6, 1978. From the time the station opened on March 27, 1976, all the way up until November 20, 2004, the station was originally just named, "Rhode Island Avenue". However; on November 20, 2004, during exactly the same time WMATA opened its brand new "New York Avenue - Florida Avenue - Galludet University" Metrorail Station in between the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station & Union Station, the "Rhode Island Avenue" Metro Station, was officially renamed, "Rhode Island Avenue - Brentwood" in recognition of the
Brentwood neighborhood in Northeast Washington, D.C., which the station is located in. However; this particular name change of the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station, was only initially reflected on WMATA's Metrorail Rider Guides, System Maps, and on most of WMATA's newer/updated Metrobus Schedules for each of the Metrobus Routes that served the Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station. The pylons and station signage, on the other hand, did not officially reflect the new name change of the station, until they were eventually replaced with brand new pylons and station signage during July/August, 2005. In the summer of 2018 from July 21 to September 3, the station was shut down for platform repairs due to settling of the platform and decaying concrete caused by salty de-icer used in the winter.
Future improvements In May 2018, Metro announced an extensive renovation of platforms at twenty stations across the system. The platforms at the Rhode Island Avenue–Brentwood station would be rebuilt starting in September 2020. ==Station layout==