Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 16:13:34 -0800
From: wardone23@yahoo.com
Subject: Portrait City DC Update
To: portrait.city@yahoo.com
Frank Braxton has lived almost all his 99 years in Washington DC, and he has the memories and the stories to prove it.
McMillan Park, before it was fenced in for security reasons during WWII, was a place to picnic, ride bicycles, and hold military-training exercises; it is remembered by several of our long-time residents.
See them here: www.portraitcitydc.com
5 comments:
and some say it was never a park!? I had a longtime neighbor --now moved away -- who said they would ride their bicycles there when they were kids
I would love to see the fences come down. While i haven't read everything on this yet, i would say that something that has been fenced and locked for 70 years is hardly a park.
Please listen to the actual accounts recorded by the interviewees. While Mr. Braxton describes "military training" at the sand filtration site, and Mr. Lee states that it was possible to gain access there, the accounts of picnics and bike rides were all at the RESERVOIR!
The reservoir was the area that people went to as a park 70 years ago, and it would make a glorious park today. Unfortunately, it is owned by the federal government and run by the Army Corps of Engineers, not the city. It is not part of the development question, and is (sadly) unlikely to be open to the public any time in the foreseeable future.
Anyone who has a stake in the community or the development plans for the sand filtration site should understand the distinction between the two sites. Anyone who ignores this distinction, and makes arguments against developing the sand filtration for safe use by citing the history of the "park" at the reservoir is being disingenuous.
Not exactly true. Part of the McMillan park was at the southeast corner of the filtration site on the McMillan site at 1st and Channing Street. This was where the McMillan Fountain stood with the Olmsted walk which was around the berm of the filtration site which the HPRB has required VMP to retain this walk. So it is obvious that part of the park was indeed on the Filtration part...even VMP has to admit that because HPRB forced them preserve that walk. The McMillan fountain did NOT sit on the reservoir side of 1st street, but high on the berm and so on the Filtration side. In fact, the park straddled both the reservoir and the filtration sites. So...it is not disingenuous to say that it was NOT a park. True the entire thing wasn't a park, but portions of both sides (large, expansive portions). Part was industrial. But given that the entire thing was classified as a park and part of the "Emerald necklace" of parks recognized by the gov't, i find it more disingenuous to say it was NEVER a park than to say it was a park. Please note that part of the confusion comes from the fact that for the early days, the reservoir and the filtration site were all one parcel at that time there was not a 1st street or a fence between them, but where the McMillan Fountain along with the walkways was on both sides. see this photo: http://friendsofmcmillan.org/park-history/ (photo at top).
Everyone take a deep breath, and spend a few minutes flipping through the National Register application and/or the Traceries report. The entire area was called McMillan Park and was landscaped by Olmsted. No matter what you think of the current plan, this is a start to understanding the facts. There is much that is not included in the report, but they both have maps and drawings.
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/places/pdfs/13000022.pdf
http://mcmillanadvisorygroup.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/mcmillan-preservation-report-final-draft-7-28-2010.pdf
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