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National Capital Parks

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The National Capital Parks is an official unit of the National Park System of the United States. It encompasses a variety of federally owned properties in the District of Columbia including memorials, monuments, parks, interiors of traffic circles and squares, triangles formed by irregular intersections, and other open spaces.

History

Selection of the Site and Design of the City

A contemporary reprint of Samuel Hill's 1792 print of Ellicott's "Plan of the City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia", published in "Massachusetts Magazine", Boston, May 1792, showing street names, lot numbers, coordinates and legends.

In 1790, Congress, through the Residence Act, authorized President George Washington to procure an area along the Potomac River to locate a new capital for the nation.[1] In 1791, President Washington appointed Pierre Charles L'Enfant to design what would become the City of Washington under the supervision of three Commissioners appointed to oversee the development of what would become the District of Columbia.[2] L’Enfant’s plan was ultimately modified by Andrew Ellicott when he ended in a dispute with the commissioners and Washington ultimately dismissed him.[3] The design created many of the spaces which would ultimately become the National Capital Parks.

Acquisition of Park Lands

The original lands of the National Capital Parks were acquired pursuant to Congress' authorization. Much of this land remains Federal property today and is part of the National Capital Parks. [4][5]

During the American Civil War, 1861–1865, the Union Army built a ring of fortifications to protect the city. These fortifications resulted in additional property becoming federally owned. In 1924, Congress created the National Capital Park Commission to acquire land in the District for the purpose of creating and preserving parklands and green spaces.[6]

In 1926, Congress passed legislation to create a system of parks out of the Civil War fortifications, which allowed acquisition of additional property to provide an interconnecting roadway as a parkway ring around the city.[7] This is known today as the Fort Circle Parks. Although the roadway was never built, the property remains today in Federal hands.

In 1933, title and control of parklands in the District was transferred to the National Park Service, creating a new unit of the National Park System called the ‘’’National Capital Parks’’’.

Administration

Today, National Capital Parks remains a formal Congressionally Authorized unit of the National Park System, but administration of the parklands is divided among several administrative units of the National Park Service:

References

  1. ^ "Residence Act". Library of Congress. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  2. ^ Leach, Sara Amy; Barthold, Elizabeth (1994-07-20). "L'Enfant Plan of the City of Washington, District of Columbia". National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-01-08.
  3. ^ Bowling, Kenneth R., Creating the federal city, 1774–1800 : Potomac fever. American Institute of Architects Press, Washington, D.C., 1988
  4. ^ "Reservation List: The Parks of the National Park System, Washington, DC" (PDF). www.nps.gov. National Park Service; Land Resources Program Center; National Capital Region. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  5. ^ Act of July 16, 1790, 1 Stat., 130
  6. ^ Act of June 6, 1924, Chapter 270, 43 Stat 463
  7. ^ Act of April 30, 1926, Chapters 197,198, 44 Stat. 374
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