Meridian Hill Park

About

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 11.88 acres (4.81 ha) and is bounded by 15th, 16th, W, and Euclid Streets NW. It sits on a prominent hill 1.5 miles (2.4 km) 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.