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 and is bounded by 15th, 16th, W, and Euclid Streets NW. It sits on a prominent hill 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.
The park has hosted various social events, protests, and rallies throughout its history. Social events have included the Starlight Chamber Music Concerts series, Summer in the Park program, and cultural festivals. Protests became prominent after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., with black nationalists and black militants holding rallies there through the 1980s. A drum circle that began after the assassination of Malcolm X still takes place, attracting people of all races and backgrounds because of changing demographics in the area. Due to this connection, the park is often referred to as Malcolm X Park by some residents. Other protests and rallies at the park have been organized by various groups, including ones demonstrating against wars, globalization, and presidential administrations. The park once had a reputation as a dangerous place, but due to efforts initiated by neighborhood organizations, crime decreased and improvements have been made by the National Park Service, which oversees the park.
Geography Meridian Hill Park is and is bordered by 15th Street NW on the east, 16th Street NW on the west, Euclid Street NW on the north, and W Street NW on the south. It is located on elevated land, part of the Wicomico-Sunderland escarpment, in the small Meridian Hill neighborhood which straddles Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. The White House is sited directly south of the park, below the terminus of 16th Street NW. The park is divided into two sections, the upper (north) portion, and the lower (south) portion. The park's elevation decreases from north to south, approximately from its northern border on Euclid Street NW to its southern border on W Street NW.
The park faces south, originally providing sweeping views of the city. Its rectangular design features a central axis and cross axis which are then divided into asymmetrical portions. The lower level of the park is wider, leading to the axis and overall design facing slightly southeast. The upper and lower levels are divided by a large retaining wall. The upper level features an open lawn flanked by sidewalks and trees, and a large terrace overlooking the lower level. The sidewalks on either side of the lawn were originally named Monument Vista Walk (east) and Concert Promenade (west). A winding pathway is located on the opposite sides of the trees, near the park's eastern and western borders. The lower level features a reflecting pool, plaza, and a cascade fountain flanked by stairways. In addition to these stairways, there is a stairway on the western edge of the park and a winding path on its eastern edge.
History Pre-park history The earliest known inhabitants of the land beneath present-day Meridian Hill Park were the Nacotchtank tribe, who by 1700 had either been chased away by white settlers or died from introduced diseases. At the time of Washington, D.C.'s creation in 1790, the land was owned by Robert Peter, a wealthy Georgetown merchant and politician, and was known as Peter's Hill. The area included a stream known as Slash Run that flowed south, emptying into Tiber Creek. In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson had a geodetic marker placed on this large hill. Centered exactly north of the White House, this marker helped to establish a longitudinal meridian for the city and the nation: the "White House meridian". The land was sold to Washington Bowie in 1811 by Peter's son.
Following the War of 1812, Commodore David Porter acquired the hill in 1816 as part of a tract of land that he had purchased for $13,000; he named this property "Meridian Hill". On the brow of this prominent hill on his new estate, and close to the marker, Porter reputedly commissioned architect George Hadfield to design a mansion which he also named Meridian Hill. The house was completed in 1819 and faced south with a dramatic view of the city. It was described as "constructed of brick, stuccoed, and 90 feet wide and 54 feet deep...1½ stories with a portico 54 feet by 12 feet."
Due to his unsuccessful attempts to farm the land, Porter went into debt and mortgaged the property in 1820 to Commodore John Rodgers. Following his presidential term, the property was leased to John Quincy Adams in 1829. He and his wife, Louisa, only lived there for a few months before Meridian Hill was sold to J. Florentius Cox. The property was sold to Colonel Gilbert L. Thompson and William Dorsey in 1856. Thompson reportedly owned slaves that worked on Meridian Hill. The two men sold the property to Josiah Sturges who in turn sold it to Olivert Pettit. Shortly before the onset of the Civil War, Meridian Hill was leased to Henry Welden who operated a pleasure park on the property. In an advertisement, Welden described the house as "large and commodious having two large dancing rooms for both ladies and gentlemen". He also stated "I have erected a large pavilion for picnic parties.
After the onset of the war, 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 George Washington University), were taken for use as an army encampment named Camp Cameron. The mansion was converted into a military hospital. The Union Army regiments stationed at Camp Cameron included the 8th Illinois Cavalry Regiment, 19th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, 8th Michigan Infantry Regiment, 1st New Jersey Infantry Regiment, 3rd New York Infantry Regiment, 7th New York Militia Regiment, and 2nd Vermont Infantry Regiment. As was common with other Union military camps, escaped slaves and freedmen worked or sought shelter at Camp Cameron. In 1863, the mansion was destroyed in a fire. The only remaining buildings on Meridian Hill were a smaller house and barn.
Following the war's conclusion in 1865, Pettit sold the estate to Colonel Isaac E. Messmore in 1867, who subdivided the land. A small black community developed in the area, primarily in the present-day park's northeast section. The community consisted of laborers and house servants residing in simple frame homes, and a grocery store. Wayland Seminary, which was founded in 1865 to educate black preachers and teachers, moved to this community when a large Second Empire school was built in 1875 on the corner of 15th (then called Columbia Avenue) and Euclid Streets NW. Among the alumni who attended Wayland Seminary after its move to Meridian Hill were Booker T. Washington and Adam Clayton Powell Sr. The school building was later demolished after the seminary relocated to Richmond, Virginia. In 1883, Joaquin Miller, nicknamed the "Poet of the Sierras", built a log cabin across the street from the present-day park. He sold his house, the Joaquin Miller Cabin, to Assistant Secretary of State Alvey A. Adee in 1887. It was later relocated to Rock Creek Park.
In 1887, former senator John B. Henderson and his wife, Mary Foote Henderson, resettled in Washington, D.C., and purchased six lots at the intersection of Boundary Street (present-day Florida Avenue) and the newly extended 16th Street NW. The Hendersons then built an elaborate stone house, designed to resemble a castle, which became known as Henderson Castle (also known as Boundary Castle). Mary, with many friends in Congress, had grand plans for the area, including Meridian Hill across the street from her house. She wanted to turn 16th Street NW into a "ceremonial gateway to the nation's capital" similar to the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Henderson put forward, without success, two ambitious proposals, one by architect Paul J. Pelz in 1898 and the second by Franklin W. Smith in 1900, both with designs to construct a colossal presidential mansion on Meridian Hill to replace the White House. She also unsuccessfully lobbied for the Lincoln Memorial to be built on Meridian Hill. The first Lincoln Memorial proposal Henderson lobbied for was a design by architect John Russell Pope. After this was rejected by the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), she hired architects Frederick V. Murphy and Walter B. Olmsted to design another plan. It was rejected by Congress.
In addition to her lobbying efforts, with her own money and with architect George Oakley Totten Jr., Henderson planned and then built her own real estate projects from 1906 to 1930, which included creating a succession of large, elaborate embassies and mansions along both 15th and 16th Streets NW. Henderson's projects transformed the Meridian Hill area into a wealthy neighborhood for white residents. These formal structures, which include the present-day Embassy of Lithuania, Embassy of Poland, the Josephine Butler Parks Center, the Pink Palace, the Spanish Cultural Institute, and the former Embassy of France, today frame Meridian Hill Park and help to create a thematic visual appearance to the surrounding area.
Park history Planning