Malcolm X Park
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Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park, is a structured urban park located in the
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, neighborhood of Columbia Heights; it also abuts the nearby neighborhood of Adams Morgan. The park was designed and built between 1912 and 1940. This , formally landscaped site is officially part of the
National Capital Parks The National Capital Parks was a unit of the National Park System of the United States, now divided into multiple administrative units. It encompasses a variety of federally owned properties in and around the District of Columbia including memorial ...
Unit of the
National Park System 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 propertie ...
, and is administered by the superintendent of nearby
Rock Creek Park Rock Creek Park is a large urban park that bisects the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The park was created by an Act of Congress in 1890 and today is administered by the National Park Service. In addition to the park proper, the Rock Cr ...
. Meridian Hill Park is bordered by 15th, 16th, W, and Euclid streets NW, and sits on a prominent hill directly north of the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
. Since 1969, the name "Malcolm X Park" has been used by many in honor of minister and activist
Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...
.


History

At the time of
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
's creation in 1791, the land beneath present-day Meridian Hill Park was owned by Robert Peter, wealthy Georgetown merchant, and was known as Peter's Hill. In 1804, president
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
had a geodetic marker placed on this large hill. Centered exactly north of the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
, this marker helped to establish a longitudinal meridian for the city and the nation: the " White House meridian". After the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, David Porter, a
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and naval hero of that war, acquired the hill in 1816 as part of a tract of land that he had purchased; he named this property Meridian Hill. On the brow of this prominent hill on his new estate, and close to the marker, Porter then built a large and famous mansion which he also named Meridian Hill. The home faced south with a dramatic view of the White House and the
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. Meridian Hill Park today shares this view. Following his presidential term,
John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States ...
briefly lived at Meridian Hill. After the onset of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, and with a strategic location overlooking the city, the Meridian Hill estate and mansion, along with the land of neighboring Columbian College (founded 1821, later moving and becoming
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), were taken for use as an army encampment named Camp Cameron. At times, this location was referred to as being "on Georgetown Heights". Shortly after the war, a fire badly damaged the mansion, and the home ultimately was razed. At that time, Washington was experiencing postwar growth and some prosperity, so in 1867 the old Porter estate's land was subdivided into smaller lots. In 1887, former senator John Brooks Henderson and his wife
Mary Foote Henderson Mary Foote Henderson (July 21, 1842 – July 16, 1931) was an American author, real estate developer, and social activist from the U.S. state of New York who was known as "The Empress of Sixteenth Street". Henderson was a notable supporter of wom ...
, a wealthy couple from
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, resettled in Washington and purchased a large number of these real estate lots. On the west side of newly extended 16th Street, the Hendersons then built an elaborate stone home, designed to resemble a castle, which became known as Henderson Castle. Mary, with many friends in
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
, had grand plans for the area and for the public use of the hill. She put forward, without success, two ambitious proposals, one by architect Paul J. Pelz in 1898 and the second by
Franklin W. Smith Franklin Webster Smith (1826–1911) was an American idealistic reformer who made his fortune as a Boston hardware merchant. He was an early Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, defendant in a civilian court-martial in 1864, author, an ...
in 1900, both with designs to construct a colossal presidential mansion on Meridian Hill to replace the White House. She next unsuccessfully proposed that the site be used for the planned Lincoln Memorial. When these did not work out, Mary Henderson focused on a park. In addition, with her own money and with architect George Oakley Totten Jr., she planned and then built her own projects, which included creating a succession of large, elaborate embassies and mansions along both 15th and 16th streets. These formal, well-made structures today frame Meridian Hill Park and help to create a thematic visual appearance to the area immediately around the park. In 1901, the Senate Park Commission (with its McMillan Plan) undertook a set of formal changes to Washington's civic appearance, most famously by reconfiguring the city's National Mall. The commission also decided, with Mary's input, that a park on Meridian Hill was appropriate, and proceeded to plan for its creation. Mary, strong-willed, intelligent, vigorous and well-connected, very much championed the park. Later, throughout the many years of park construction, she lobbied Congress to maintain the flow of funding necessary to complete the project. By an Act of Congress on June 25, 1910, Meridian Hill Park was established. The federal government also purchased the land for the park in 1910, and began planning for its construction in 1912, with the Interior Department hiring landscape architect George Burnap to design a grand urban park modeled on parks found in European capitals. His plans were approved in early 1914, and later were modified by Horace Peaslee, who took over as project architect; the design included an Italian Renaissance-style terraced fountain cascade with pools in the lower half, and gardens in a French Baroque style in the upper half. The upper portion later was simplified somewhat to focus on an open mall, suitable for gatherings and performances. The well-designed and carefully made walls, fountains, balustrades and benches were built with Concrete#Aggregates, concrete aggregate, a then-new type of building material consisting of a specially washed and exposed-pebble surface set into the concrete substrate. This construction technique for the park was created by master craftsman John Joseph Earley; he and his team of skilled artisans worked for years on the project. After two decades under construction, the grounds were declared essentially complete, given park status, and then dedicated in 1936. Following its completion, the park became popular with city residents. The upper mall area was often used for concerts and gatherings. At a political rally in 1969, activist Angela Davis proposed renaming the park
Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...
Park, but ultimately this name change was not approved. And after 1970, with inner-city areas of Washington experiencing an economic decline, the park and its neighborhood suffered some decay for a number of years, with crime and vandalism becoming a problem. Upkeep of the park suffered, and the park became less safe, with drug dealing at times occurring. About 1990, in response to rising crime rates in and around the park, neighborhood residents became more involved in the park's stewardship and programming, and a group of community organizations formed the Friends of Meridian Hill. This organization organized volunteer nighttime patrols to combat crime, planted trees, produced a wide range of community arts and educational programs in the park, including twilight concerts, and helped the National Park Service to make improvements to the park. In recognition of the impact of these efforts in 1994, president Bill Clinton presented the Friends of Meridian Hill with the Partnership Leadership Award in a White House ceremony. Since 2005, the Park Service has been working on a general restoration, carefully repairing and replacing the unique concrete structures as necessary, and replacing key utility systems. This ongoing work on the site continues today, and has resulted in a renovated asset for the city. The park is now a place that is well-used and enjoyed by local residents. On Sunday afternoons during warm weather, people gather from 3 to 9 p.m. in the upper park to dance and participate in a drum circle. This activity, held in the park since the 1950s, regularly attracts both enthusiastic dancers and professional drummers. In 1994 the park was designated a National Historic Landmark, as "an outstanding accomplishment of early 20th century Neoclassicist park design in the United States", and is today maintained as a part of
Rock Creek Park Rock Creek Park is a large urban park that bisects the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The park was created by an Act of Congress in 1890 and today is administered by the National Park Service. In addition to the park proper, the Rock Cr ...
. In 2014 the District of Columbia government approved creation of the Meridian Hill Historic District in the local neighborhood around the park, with the park itself in the center of the newly designated area.


Statues and features

A central feature of Meridian Hill Park is the 13-basin ''Cascading Waterfall'' in the lower-level formal garden. The fountains are designed with a recirculating water system which, through an elaborate series of pumps, supplies water to two large circular fountains on the upper level, and cascade found on the lower. The many walls and stairways of the site's composition add variety to the park, and because the central structure is on a hillside, some of the stairways are rather dramatic. The park also contains well-designed textured-concrete benches and urns, and patterned-concrete walkways. The park plan conceived by Burnap and Peaslee was one composed to depict a formal Italian garden. The actual planting scheme was designed by New York landscape architects Ferruccio Vitale, Vitale, Brinckerhoff, and Geiffert. In the past, gardens of this scope generally were reserved for aristocrats, but Meridian Hill Park, a product of democracy, was made for all people.


Statues

A number of finely-crafted sculptures and memorials have been placed in the park, some even as the grounds were under construction. These include: * ''Serenity (Clara), Serenity'' by sculptor Jose Clara (Josep Clarà, Josep Clarà i Ayats), dedicated to the memory of the U.S. Navy commander William Henry Scheutze; it was carved out of a solid block of white marble and dedicated in 1924. * ''Equestrian statue of Joan of Arc (Washington, D.C.), Joan of Arc'', a gift from the Ladies of France in Exile in New York in 1922, dedicated in the name of the 510th anniversary of the subject's birth and mounted on a pedestal designed by McKim, Mead and White. It is a bronze cast of an Joan of Arc (Dubois), 1889 statue by Paul Dubois (sculptor), Paul Dubois. The statue was created for erection in front of Notre-Dame de Reims, Reims Cathedral in France, with two other casts now in Paris and Strasbourg. In Washington, a city of many equestrian statues, this is the only one to depict a woman on horseback. * ''Dante Alighieri (Ximenes), Dante'', an bronze sculpture by Ettore Ximenes. The statue, created in 1921, stands on a pedestal of sea-green granite and represents Italian poet Dante Alighieri dressed in the robe of a scholar. * ''James Buchanan Memorial'', the 15th president of the United States, sculpted by Hans Schuler. This imposing memorial was dedicated in 1930, and is today the only memorial to James Buchanan in Washington.


In popular culture

Washington, D.C., area indie rock band Unrest (band), Unrest named their fourth album ''Malcolm X Park (album), Malcolm X Park'' after the unofficial name of the park.


References


External links


National Park Service
NRHP 'travel itinerary' listing at the National Park Service *
Washington Parks and People''Washington Post'' Entertainment GuideMeridian Hill Neighborhood AssociationNPR: Why Urban Joes and CEOs Bang the Drum
{{Coord, 38.9210, -77.0357, region:US-DC_type:landmark, display=title 1912 establishments in Washington, D.C. Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park, Historic American Buildings Survey in Washington, D.C. Memorials to Malcolm X National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C. National Park Service areas in Washington, D.C. Neoclassical architecture in Washington, D.C. Parks in Washington, D.C. Rock Creek Park