Meridian Hill Park

Early 20th century

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.^[9] 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 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. Another interesting fact is the use of the park as a filming location for an OSS movie, where the Joan of Arc as well as the Dante statue can be seen.^[10]

Late 20th century

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 Park, but ultimately this name change was not approved.^[2] Locals continued to call the park Malcolm X Park in honour of the assassinated civil rights minister. In 2023 after the lower plaza renovation (to make park wheelchair accessible) was complete and the lower plaza reopened,^[11] NPS for the first time acknowledged the park's local name: Malcolm X Park.^[12][13][14]

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.

Contemporary

In 1994, in recognition of the impact of the Friends of Meridian Hill, president Bill Clinton presented the Friends of Meridian Hill with the Partnership Leadership Award in a White House ceremony.^[15] 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.

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",^[1] and is today maintained as a part of Rock Creek Park.^[16] 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.

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.^[17][18]

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 by sculptor Jose Clara (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.
• 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 1889 statue by Paul Dubois. The statue was created for erection in front of Reims Cathedral in France, with two other casts now in Paris and Strasbourg.^[20] In Washington, a city of many equestrian statues, this is the only one to depict a woman on horseback.
• Dante, an 11+1⁄2-foot (3.5 m) 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 82-foot-long (25 m) memorial was dedicated in 1930, and is today the only memorial to James Buchanan in Washington.
• Noyes Armillary Sphere, sculpted by C. Paul Jennewein and dedicated in 1936, it was removed in 1973 due to damage. It was either stolen or misplaced and a replica was installed in 2024.