A United States postage stamp and the names of a number of recreational and cultural facilities, schools, streets and other facilities and institutions throughout the United States have commemorated Benjamin Banneker's documented and mythical accomplishments throughout the years since he lived (1731–1806) (see Mythology of Benjamin Banneker). Among such memorializations of this free African American almanac author, surveyor, landowner and farmer who had knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and natural history was a biographical verse that Rita Dove, a future Poet Laureate of the United States, wrote in 1983 while on the faculty of Arizona State University.

Benjamin Banneker postage stamp

On February 15, 1980, during Black History Month, the United States Postal Service issued in Annapolis, Maryland, a 15 cent commemorative postage stamp that featured a portrait of Banneker.Multiple sources: Bedini, 1999, pp. 319—320.

An image of Banneker standing behind a short telescope mounted on a tripod was superimposed upon the portrait. The device shown in the stamp resembles Andrew Ellicott's transit and equal altitude instrument (see Theodolite), which is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.Multiple sources:

The stamp was the third in the Postal Service's Black Heritage stamp series.Multiple sources:

The featured portrait was one that Jerry Pinkney of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, who designed the first nine stamps in the series, had earlier placed on another approved version of the stamp.Multiple sources:

Historian Silvio Bedini subsequently noted that, because no known portrait of Banneker exists, the stamp artist had based the portrait on "imagined features".

Recreational and cultural facilities The names of a number of recreational and cultural facilities commemorate Banneker. These facilities include parks, playgrounds, community centers, museums and a planetarium.

Parks

Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum, Baltimore County, Maryland A park commemorating Benjamin Banneker is located in a stream valley woodland at the former site of Banneker's farm and residence in Oella, Maryland, between Ellicott City and the City of Baltimore.Multiple sources:

Coordinates of Benjamin Banneker Historical Park, Baltimore County, Maryland: The Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks manages the $2.5 million facility, which was dedicated on June 9, 1998.

The park, which encompasses and contains archaeological sites and extensive nature trails, is the largest original African American historical site in the United States.Multiple sources:

Images of exhibits in Benjamin Banneker Museum in Oella, Maryland: The primary focus of the park is a museum highlighting Banneker's contributions.Coordinates of Benjamin Banneker Museum, Baltimore County, Maryland: The museum contains a visitors center that features a collection of Banneker's works and artifacts, a community gallery, a gift shop and a patio garden.Multiple sources:

The park contains an 1850s stone farmhouse, now named the "Molly Banneky House". The three-story house was restored as an office complex in 2004.Coordinates of Molly Banneky House:

On November 12, 2009, officials opened a replica of Banneker's log cabin on the park grounds, reportedly two days before the 278th anniversary of Banneker's birth.Coordinates of replica of Benjamin Banneker's log cabin: Baltimore County's delegation to the Maryland General Assembly secured a $400,000 state bond for the design and construction of the cabin. The original estimated cost to construct the cabin in accordance with its drawings and specifications was $240,700.

A historical marker that the Maryland Historical Society erected to commemorate Banneker stands on the grounds of the park. The marker replaced the last of three earlier markers that vandals had previously destroyed, the first of which the Maryland State Roads Commission had installed nearby in 1954 on the grounds of the Westchester Grade School (now the Westchester Community Center).Multiple sources: Bedini, 1971, pp. 301, 342 Cited in

Coordinates of Westchester Community Center, Baltimore County, Maryland:

Gallery of Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum

Benjamin Banneker Park and Memorial, Washington, D.C.

A urban park memorializing Benjamin Banneker is located in southwest Washington, D.C., one half mile (800 m) south of the Smithsonian Institution's "Castle" on the National Mall. The park features a prominent overlook at the south end of L'Enfant Promenade and Tenth Street SW.Coordinates of Benjamin Banneker Park, Washington, D.C.:

A traffic circle, named Banneker Circle SW, surrounds the overlook. A grassy slope descends steeply from the traffic circle to the Southwest Freeway (Interstate 395), Ninth Street SW and Maine Avenue SW.

The National Park Service (NPS) operates the park as part of its National Mall and Memorial Parks administrative unit. The NPS erected a historical marker near the park's entrance in 1997.Multiple sources:

The park is now at stop number 8 on Washington's Southwest Heritage Trail.Multiple sources:

In 1967, landscape architect Daniel Urban Kiley completed the design of the "Tenth Street Overlook". After the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency completed construction of the Overlook in 1969, the Agency transferred the Overlook to the NPS in 1970.

The elliptical wide overlook provides elevated views of the nearby Southwest Waterfront, Washington Channel, East Potomac Park, Potomac River and more distant areas. The centerpiece of the overlook's modernist plaza is a large conical fountain that projects water more than 30 feet in the air and catches it in a circular basin made from honed green granite.

The rings of the fountain and basin in the center of the site are reiterated in the benches, double rows of London plane trees, and low concrete walls that establish the plaza's edge. The ground plane is paved with granite squares, a continuation of L'Enfant Promenade's materials. The ground plane is concave, and with the trees and fountain helps define the spatial volume of the plaza.

In 1970, the District of Columbia City Council passed a resolution that petitioned the NPS to rename the Overlook as Banneker Park, arguing that the council had already renamed the adjacent highway circle as Banneker Circle, S.W. The NPS thereupon hosted a dedication ceremony in 1971 that renamed the Overlook as "Benjamin Banneker Park".Bedini, 1999, p. 318. "In the two centuries since Banneker's death, his achievements have been forgotten or misrepresented ..... In November 1971, on the anniversary of Banneker's birthday, the secretary of the interior authorized the 10th Street Overlook outside L'Enfant Plaza in Washington to be renamed and dedicated by the mayor as Benjamin Banneker Park. Once again, the reasons presented by the speakers on the occasion and widely reported by the press had been all based on erroneous information: Banneker was hailed for his contribution after L'Enfant was dismissed and Banneker "saved the plan by reconstructing it from memory"."

Following completion of a restoration project, the park was ceremoniously rededicated in 1997 to again commemorate Banneker;Multiple sources:

the area has no specific connection to Banneker himself.

In 1998, the 105th United States Congress enacted legislation that authorized the Washington Interdependence Council of the District of Columbia to establish at the council's expense a memorial on federal land in the District that would commemorate Banneker's accomplishments.Public Law 101-355 (November 6, 1998) states in Title V, Section 512 (112 Stat. 3266): "SEC. 512. MEMORIAL TO MR. BENJAMIN BANNEKER IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. (a) MEMORIAL AUTHORIZED.—The Washington Interdependence Council of the District of Columbia is authorized to establish a memorial in the District of Columbia to honor and commemorate the accomplishments of Mr. Benjamin Banneker. (b) COMPLIANCE WITH STANDARDS FOR COMMEMORATIVE WORKS.—The establishment of the memorial shall be in accordance with the Commemorative Works Act (40 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). (c) PAYMENT OF EXPENSES.—The Washington Interdependence Council shall be solely responsible for acceptance of contributions for, and payment of the expenses of, the establishment of the memorial. No Federal funds may be used to pay any expense of the establishment of the memorial. ...". Retrieved 2010-01-21. The Council plans to erect this memorial in or near the park. In 2006, the Council held a charrette to select the artist that would design the memorial.Comcast News Makers video:

Construction of the memorial was expected to begin after the United States Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approved the memorial's design and location in accordance with the legislation that authorized the establishment of the memorial and with the United States Code (40 U.S.C. § 8905). However, the proposed memorial had by 1999 become a $17 million project that would contain a visitors' center near the "Castle" at the north end of the Promenade, a clock atop a tall pedestal at the midpoint of the Promenade, a statue of Banneker in the park's circle at the south end of the Promenade and a skyway over Interstate 395 that would connect the park to the waterfront. After considering the proposal, the National Capital Memorial Commission rejected the placement of the statue in the park and decided to consult with the District of Columbia government about placing a Banneker memorial at the midpoint of the Promenade.

The legislative authority relative to locating the Memorial on federal land lapsed in 2005.. This did not preclude the location of the memorial on lands such as the road right-of-way in the Promenade that are under the jurisdiction of the District of Columbia's government.

During the 2000s, various organizations proposed to develop at the site of Benjamin Banneker Park a number of large facilities including a baseball stadium (later constructed elsewhere in D.C. as Nationals Park), the National Museum of African American History and Culture, a National Children's Museum and a National Museum of the American Latino. In 2004, the D.C. Preservation League listed the Park as one of the most endangered places in the District because of such proposals to redevelop the park's area. The League stated that the park, "Designed by renowned landscape architect Daniel Urban Kiley ... is culturally significant as the first public space in Washington named for an African American and is usually included in Black History tours".

In 2006, the District government and the Federal Highway Administration issued an environmental assessment for "improvements" to the promenade and park that described a number of projects that could redevelop the area containing the park. In 2011, a proposal surfaced that would erect a structure housing a "National Museum of the American People" at or near the site of the park.Multiple sources:

In 2012, the United States Army Corps of Engineers determined that Benjamin Banneker Park was not eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.Multiple sources:

However, the District of Columbia State Historic Preservation Office (DC SHPO) did not concur with this determination.

The DC SHPO stated that additional research and coordination with the NPS would be needed before it could make a final determination of eligibility. In 2014, the DC SHPO concurred with the superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks that the park was eligible for inclusion in the National Register as an integral component of the 10th Street Promenade/Banneker Overlook composition, but not as an independent entity.