Norton Introduces Bill to Rename Rock Creek Park as “Rock Creek National Park”

WASHINGTON, D.C -Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced her bill to rename Rock Creek Park as "Rock Creek National Park," which would acknowledge the importance of the park for the nation, visitors, tourists, and its central place for District of Columbia residents. Norton said this name would highlight Rock Creek Park as one of the nation's great historic parks, along with national parks such as Yosemite and Sequoia National Park. Rock Creek is the nation's oldest federally managed urban park and the third oldest federal park in the country.

"We are grateful to enjoy all the amenities of a beautiful park running through our city, but Rock Creek Park also deserves its place among the nation's great historic parks," Norton said. "Rock Creek Park is one of America's oldest and most revered parks, enjoyed not only by hundreds of thousands of D.C. residents, but by the millions who visit the nation's capital each year. Rock Creek Park is a tourist destination different from our monument sites only in its creation by nature. Renaming Rock Creek Park as 'Rock Creek National Park' would help recognize the national status of the park and would assist us in getting Congress to revitalize this remarkable resource in the nation's capital."

Statement of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

On theIntroduction of theRock Creek National Park Act of 2024

April 23, 2024

Ms. Norton. Mr. Speaker.

Today, I introduce a bill to redesignate the United States-owned Rock Creek Park in the District of Columbia as "Rock Creek National Park." Redesignating this park will highlight its significance to the nation, including visitors to the nation's capital, and will help bring much-needed funding for the park's inviting trails, waterways and other unique features.

Rock Creek Park is already a "national" park, as it was established by Congress in 1890 "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of the United States." Rock Creek Park was the first federally managed urban park and the third federal park ever created, after Yellowstone and Sequoia. Rock Creek Park was designed to preserve animals, timber, forestry and other interests in the park, and to ensure that its natural state is maintained as much as possible not only for D.C. residents, but for all Americans. The park also preserves the ancient history of the land, as it was used for temporary settlements and as a quarry for weapons and tools by Native Americans from 7000 BCE until the 1600s.

Since Congress first designated Rock Creek Park, several structures and properties have been established or donated to further preserve Rock Creek Park, creating a vast connected park area that falls under a central National Park Service jurisdiction. In 1892, the federal government acquired Peirce Mill in Rock Creek Park, one of the mills used by local farmers during the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th centuries. In 1950, the Old Stone House located in Georgetown, with its pre-Revolutionary War architecture, was acquired by the park. The building was restored and programs explain the house's rich history from the colonial period to the present day. The Fort Circle Parks were also acquired to interpret and preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington, which created a ring of protection for the nation's capital during the Civil War. The Carter Barron Amphitheater, established in honor of the 150^th anniversary of the nation's capital, became an integral part of D.C.'s live music scene, and has featured acts including Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Ross and Earth, Wind and Fire, as well as local artists. The redesignated "Rock Creek National Park" would encompass these later additions to the park.

Today, Rock Creek Park offers residents of D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia, as well as visitors, an escape from our increasingly urban environment. Residents and tourists alike enjoy many activities in the park's 2,000 acres, including hiking and biking on the trails, horseback riding, picnicking, tennis and other recreational activities in some of the open fields. Our residents have expressed their appreciation by volunteering to clean up and maintain the forests, trails and waterways.

In 1918, landscape architects John Charles Olmstead and Frederick Law Olmstead Jr. wrote of Rock Creek Park, "No matter how perfect the scenery of the park may be or may become, no matter how high its potential value, that value remains potential except insofar as it is enjoyed by large and ever larger numbers of people, poor and rich alike." Redesignating Rock Creek Park as Rock Creek National Park will help recognize the national status of the park and protect and revitalize this remarkable resource in our nation's capital.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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