Meridian Hill Park

About this property

Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park, is an urban park in Washington, D.C., located in the Meridian Hill neighborhood that straddles the border between Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. The park is 11.88 acres (4.81 ha) and is bounded by 15th, 16th, W, and Euclid Streets NW. It sits on a prominent hill 1.5 miles (2.4 km) directly north of the White House. The park was added to the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites in 1964, the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1974, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994. The park is also a central feature of the Meridian Hill Historic District, added to the NRHP in 2014. The land where the park is located was previously inhabited by the Nacotchtank tribe. In 1816, Commodore David Porter purchased the land, then known as Peter's Hill, and renamed it Meridian Hill, after the geodetic marker placed there in 1804 to establish a longitudinal meridian for the city and nation. Porter built a mansion on the hill, which was later occupied by President John Quincy Adams. During the American Civil War, the mansion and surrounding land were commandeered by the Union Army and hosted Camp Cameron. The mansion was destroyed in a fire in 1863. The land was subdivided after the war and a black community developed there, eventually encompassing almost three dozen houses and two grocery stores. Wayland Seminary's large school building was constructed on the northeast corner of the present-day park, but demolished after the school relocated. After Mary Foote Henderson and her husband built Henderson Castle across the street from Meridian Hill, she purchased surrounding lots and began developing the area, catering to wealthy residents. She used her influence with members of Congress in her efforts, but was unsuccessful in having a new presidential mansion and the Lincoln Memorial being built on Meridian Hill. After the McMillan Plan was published in 1902, efforts were made to build a park on the hill. No action was taken until 1910 when Congress authorized its establishment. Landscape architect George Burnap designed the park's initial plan, but after he was dismissed, his assistant Horace Peaslee took over the project and continued to oversee its completion. Meridian Hill Park's Italianate design was based on Italian gardens and parks Burnap and Peaslee visited during a European tour. Architectural sculptor and carver John Joseph Earley used a then-new type of building material, concrete aggregate, in the park's walls, benches, fountains, and balustrades. Construction of the park took place from 1912 to 1936. During these years, five statues and memorials were erected in the park, including the James Buchanan Memorial.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in District of Columbia County

Historic places, battles, and census history across District of Columbia County.

More historic places in District of Columbia

Browse all historic places in District of Columbia.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

District of Columbia history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.