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is a city in southeastern Jefferson County, Alabama, and a suburb of Birmingham. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,821. Mountain Brook is a particularly affluent city within the Birmingham metropolitan area and appeared in several lists of America's wealthiest communities.
Mountain Brook was originally developed in 1929 by local developer Robert Jemison as an extensive residential subdivision, and was incorporated on May 24, 1942. The plans, by Boston-based landscape architect Warren H. Manning, called for estate-sized lots along winding scenic roads and denser commercial development centering on three "villages" knowns as English Village, Mountain Brook Village and Crestline Village. Nature preserves on the adjacent slopes protected the area from urban encroachment and bridle paths created a recreational network within the development.
Mountain Brook is often referred to as "The Tiny Kingdom" due to its reputation as an enclave for the area's elite and the disparity of wealth between it and Birmingham where nearly a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line, according to Census data.
Mountain Brook is the hometown of actors Wayne Rogers, Kate Jackson and Courteney Cox as well as former Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr. Mountain Brook was also home to Natalee Holloway, a 2005 high school graduate who disappeared on a school trip in Aruba in a well-publicized missing persons case.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.2 square miles (31.7 km²), all of it land.