Druid Hill Park
| Druid Hill Park | |
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| Auchentorlie | |
Cherry blossoms along Druid Hill Reservoir
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| Location | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Created | 1908 |
| Operated by |
Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks |
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Druid Hill Park Historic District
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| Location | Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland |
| Coordinates | 39°19′23″N 76°38′41″W / 39.32306°N 76.64472°WCoordinates: 39°19′23″N 76°38′41″W / 39.32306°N 76.64472°W |
| Area | 746 acres (302 ha) |
| Built | 1860 |
| Architect | Howard Daniels; George A. Frederick |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian |
| NRHP Reference # | 73002183 |
| Added to NRHP | May 22, 1973 |
Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks
Druid Hill Park is a 745-acre (3.01 km2) urban park in northwest Baltimore, Maryland. Its boundaries are marked by Druid Park Drive (north), Swann Drive and Reisterstown Road (west and south), and the Jones Falls Expressway (east). Inaugurated in 1860, Druid Hill Park, a famed urban park, ranks with Central Park (begun in 1858) in New York City and Fairmount Park (1812) in Philadelphia as the oldest landscaped public parks in the United States.
The land was originally part of "Auchentorlie", the estate of Dr George Buchanan (1696-1750), one of the seven commissioners responsible for the 1729 establishment of Baltimore City; Buchanan's country estate included 579 of the 745 acres (3.01 km2) that comprise Druid Hill Park today. Renamed "Druid Hill" by Col. Nicholas Rogers, who married Eleanor Buchanan, it was purchased in 1860 by the City of Baltimore from descendent Lloyd Rogers with municipal funds raised by the revenue derived from a one-cent park tax on the nickel horsecar fares, put through by Mayor Thomas Swann (later Governor of Maryland). After its purchase, Druid Hill Park was inaugurated by Swann on October 19, 1860. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Local residents often refer to the park as "Dru Hill" Park, a "Baltimorese" (local dialect) corruption of its given name.
The park was designed by Howard Daniels, landscape designer retained by the newly created and appointed Board of Park Commissioners, and John H. B. Latrobe, (1803-1891), who designed the gateways to the Park and the alterations made to the early-19th-century Nicholas Rogers mansion that already stood in the site, later known as the "Mansion House". George A. Frederick, (1842-1924), the 21-year-old Baltimore architect who later won the commission for Baltimore City Hall in 1860, (constructed 1867-1875), provided designs for architectural features in the park. Among Frederick's playful structures for Druid Hill in Moorish and Chinese styles is the Chinese Station erected in 1864 and the Moorish Station, which were stops on a narrow-gauge railroad that once wound through the park. The "Mansion House" now functions as the main administration building of the Baltimore City Zoo (later renamed Maryland Zoo in Baltimore).
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Wikipedia