Meridian Hill Park
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Meridian Hill Park
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A thirteen-basin cascade fountain is one of the most dramatic features of Meridian Hill Park
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| Location | Bounded by 16th, Euclid, 15th, and W Sts., NW. Washington, D.C. |
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| NRHP Reference # | 74000273 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 25, 1974 |
| Designated NHL | April 19, 1994 |
Meridian Hill Park is a structured urban park located in the Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Columbia Heights; it also abuts the nearby neighborhood of Adams Morgan. The park was designed and built between 1912 and 1940. This 12 acre (49,000 m²) formally landscaped site is maintained by the National Park Service as a part of Rock Creek Park, but is not contiguous with that much larger nearby park. Meridian Hill Park is bordered by 15th, 16th, W, and Euclid Streets NW, and sits on a prominent hill 1.5 miles (2.42 km) directly north of the White House. The park has also been unofficially known as "Malcolm X Park" by some city residents.
At the time of Washington, D.C.'s creation in 1791, the land beneath present-day Meridian Hill Park was owned by Robert Peter, wealthy Georgetown merchant, and was known as Peter's Hill. In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson had a geographic 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". After the War of 1812, Commodore David Porter, a naval hero of that war, acquired the hill in 1816 as part of a 110-acre tract of land that he had purchased; he named this property "Meridian Hill". On the brow of this prominent hill on his new estate, and close to the marker, Porter then built a large and famous mansion which he also named Meridian Hill. The home faced south with a dramatic view of the White House and the Potomac River beyond. Meridian Hill Park today shares this view.
After the onset of the Civil 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. This location was then at times referred to as being "on Georgetown Heights".
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