Constitution Gardens is a park area in Washington, D.C., United States, located within the boundaries of the

National Mall The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and va ...

. The park is bounded on the west by the

Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those ...

, on the east by 17th St NW, on the north by

Constitution Avenue Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the northwest and northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and its western section was greatly lengthened and widened bet ...

, and on the south by the Reflecting Pool. Constitution Gardens has a small pond, which contains the

Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence The Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence is a memorial depicting the signatures of the 56 signatories to the United States Declaration of Independence. It is located in the Constitution Gardens on the National Mall in W ...

on an island open to pedestrians.

History

The land that became Constitution Gardens was originally submerged beneath the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

and was dredged at the beginning of the 20th century by the Army Corps of Engineers. The U.S. Navy built the

Main Navy and Munitions Buildings The Main Navy and Munitions Buildings were constructed in 1918 along Constitution Avenue (then known as B Street) on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall (Potomac Park) as the largest of a set of temporary war buildings on the National Mall. Both b ...

as temporary offices on the land during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The buildings were demolished in 1970 due in part to lobbying by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, who had served in the offices as a navy officer. President Nixon subsequently ordered that a park be established on the land, and in 1976, Constitution Gardens was finally dedicated as a "living legacy

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

Bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe * French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...

tribute." It has been a separate park unit in the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

since 1982, administered under the National Capitol Parks-Central (NACC). In July 1982, the

was dedicated on the small island in the lake. On November 13 of the same year, the

Wall was also dedicated within Constitution Gardens. On September 17, 1986, President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

formally proclaimed the park a "living legacy tribute" to the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

, in honor of the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution one year later. From March 17 to March 19, 2003, Constitution Gardens was the site of a bizarre standoff between federal police and a disgruntled tobacco farmer, Dwight Watson. Watson drove his tractor into the center of the pond and claimed to have explosives, prompting the evacuation of the area and holding the FBI and

U.S. Park Police The United States Park Police (USPP) is one of the oldest uniformed federal law enforcement agencies in the United States. It functions as a full-service law enforcement agency with responsibilities and jurisdiction in those National Park Servic ...

at bay for 48 hours before he surrendered. During the standoff, Watson dug up part of the island and damaged a

retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

(for which he received a conviction for destroying federal property) but apparently did not harm any of the monuments. No explosives were found. As home to famous monuments, Constitution Gardens continues to have millions of visitors every year. It is also the site of an annual

naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

ceremony for new U.S. citizens hosted by the

Design

In a series of plans and designs, architecture firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) and Modern landscape architect Dan Kiley completed Constitution Gardens in 1976 as a picturesque restful park with a small lake, which would contrast with the "formalism of the Grand Axis." Meandering paths would traverse meadows shaded by tree canopy. Construction budgets were reduced from $14million to $6.7million. In 1984, the

was completed and placed on an island in Constitution Gardens Lake. It was designed by EDAW, with Joe Brown, FASLA, as the principal landscape architect. The low-key design features a granite semi-circle with gold signatures of the

Founding Fathers The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

, organized by the original thirteen states.

Renovation

A 2011–12 national design competition was sponsored by the Trust for the National Mall to select a design team for the redesign of three sites: Constitution Gardens, the Sylvan Theater, and Union Square. After an intense and highly publicized competition, the Trust for the National Mall has announced the three winning teams selected to redesign the neglected sites of "America's front yard". As reported by ''The Washington Post'', Rogers Marvel Architects and

PWP Landscape Architecture Peter Walker is an American landscape architect and the founder of PWP Landscape Architecture. Early life Peter WalkerFounding Fathers of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britai ...

Architecture of Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, has a unique and diverse architectural history. Encompassing government, monumental, commercial, and residential buildings, D.C. is home to some of the country's most famous and popular structur ...

References

External links

"Constitution Gardens"
National Park Service
"Trust for the National Mall: Constitution Gardens"
* {{authority control Buildings and structures demolished in 1970 National Mall and Memorial Parks Protected areas established in 1976 1976 establishments in Washington, D.C. National Mall