November 17, 2010

Name the New Park

Park construction is underway, but when the park is ready in the coming months, what should we call it? The ultimate decision is up to the DC Council, but Councilmember Jim Graham (D – Ward 1) has assured us that the Council will strongly consider any three names that neighbors finally settle on.

You can submit your suggestions online. Anyone may submit names and you may submit as many as you like. The LeDroit Park Civic Association will gather the names and allow the public to vote for the names. The top three winners will be forwarded to the Council.

What would you like to call the park?

If we want to honor notable residents, here are a few famous figures from the neighborhood’s history:

We have excluded Duke Ellington since he lived here for only one year and since he already has several civic works dedicated to him.  We also excluded living people since their histories are still being written.  We also left out Anna J. Cooper since she already has the circle park named after her.

One other deceased person who might merit distinction is Theresa Brown, who died in 2009.  Ms. Brown was instrumental in establishing the LeDroit Park Historic District and protecting the neighborhood’s unique architecture from the wrecking ball.  Without her, the neighborhood we know today may have been turned into parking lots.

Most parks operated by the Department of Parks and Recreation end their names with “Recreation Center”,  a suffix with as much charm as the tax code.  Perhaps Playground, Gardens, Park, or Field would set off our park from other projects.

What would you like to name the park?

Categories: History, Park at LeDroit
Tags: , , , , , , ,

10 Replies

  1. confuse everyone and call it ‘LeDroit Park.’

    dano - November 17, 2010 @ 9:20 am
  2. @ dano – you joke but I totally agree. Name should reflect a sense of place. Logan Circle is in Logan Circle neighborhood, Kalorama Park in Kalorama neighborhood, The LeDroit Park should be in the Ledroit Park neighborhood

    Ledroit resident - November 17, 2010 @ 10:35 am
  3. I nominate James McGill. Not enough people know or appreciate that he is the architect responsible for the unique and at the time ground breaking design of our neighborhood. Alas, I’m an architect and no one seems to care about these things as much as I wish they did…
    I also love the name LeDroit. I always assumed LeDroit Park made sense – not to confuse but more so along the lines of what L Res says above. Perhaps mix it up and call it LeDroit Field, or LeDroit Commons.

    3rdStreetDesign - November 17, 2010 @ 5:23 pm
  4. LeDroit Commons a lot

    I like - November 18, 2010 @ 2:51 pm
  5. Tiber Creek Park

    Flagler Pl NW - November 19, 2010 @ 3:10 pm
  6. LOVE LeDroit Commons!!

    Lars - November 19, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
  7. Le Droit Gardens!

    Ale - November 21, 2010 @ 4:37 pm
  8. Call it Ledroit Park of course!

    Eric - November 24, 2010 @ 3:40 pm
  9. How about mentioning the history of the site? Gage-Eckington park? Of course The James Mcgill park will be honorable of course!

    Just the truth - November 25, 2010 @ 3:37 pm
  10. I didn’t think my comment would get much traction, which is why I have suggested it in the off hand way. to me, it just makes sense. other than calling something along the lines of LeDroit Park (I rather like LeDroit Commons as suggested by Lars) I think that it should pay homage to the site’s past and call it Gage – Eckington Park. I also like referencing Tiber Creek, but so few people realize that there is a creek running underground, starting under Flagler Pl and running south toward the capitol before bending west roughly along Constitution. You can see the north end of the creek poking out of the original city here with the horizontal canal piece being the dredged out mouth of the creek and later Constitution Ave.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:L'Enfant_plan.jpg

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiber_Creek

    dano - November 29, 2010 @ 10:06 am

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