Park in Washington, D.C., U.S.
Stead Park
is a 1.5-acre (0.61 ha)
municipal park
located in the
Dupont Circle
neighborhood of
Northwest
Washington, D.C.
Among its facilities are
Stead Recreation Center
, located at 1625 P Street NW; a lighted
basketball
court; an athletic field with a 60-foot (18 m)
baseball
diamond; and a
playground
.
[1]
The park hosts public events such as Summer Movie Mania, an outdoor screening sponsored by the
city government
.
[2]
[3]
[4]
Stead Park is also used as a practice field by the
Washington Renegades RFC
, the first
rugby union
club in the
United States
to recruit
gay
men and
men of color
.
[5]
[6]
The park and its small staff are administered by the city's Department of Parks and Recreation. Stead Park, whose property was
valued
at $8,659,560 in 2009,
[7]
is partially funded by a
private trust
created by Washington architect Robert Stead (1846-1943). The park is named for Stead's wife, Mary Force Stead.
[8]
History
[
edit
]
The portion of the park next to P Street once held 19th-century
row houses
. One of them, an 1878 house at 1625 P Street, was built by Henry Hurt, a
Confederate
Army
veteran and president of the
Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company
. (
Archaeological
work during a 2008 renovation uncovered
artifacts
and brick
foundations
from that house and another at 1613 P Street.)
[9]
In 1951, work began on Stead Park, an explicitly
unsegregated
recreational facility. The single-story fuel sheds from the row houses at 1621, 1623, and 1625 P Street were consolidated, expanded, and topped with a second story; this structure became the park's recreation center. The park was eventually completed at a cost of $80,000
[10]
($911,045 today
[11]
), and formally opened on November 13, 1953.
In 2003, plans for a four-story, multimillion-dollar
gay
community center
to be built on a small section of the aging park sparked a dispute among Dupont Circle residents and the Washington D.C. Center for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People. The plans were ultimately abandoned.
[12]
[13]
In 2008, the recreation center and playground were renovated. Work began in April and the park reopened on December 15.
[14]
In 2022, the city began a $15.4 million renovation of the recreation center, intended as a "modernization of the existing recreation facility with an addition and to bring it up to ADA standards." Completion is expected in fall 2023.
[15]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Stead Recreation Center"
.
Government of the District of Columbia
. Archived from
the original
on June 10, 2008
. Retrieved
2008-12-22
.
- ^
Buckwalter, Ian (2009-05-13).
"Screens on Other Greens"
.
DCist.com
.
Archived
from the original on 2009-05-17
. Retrieved
2009-05-24
.
- ^
Mathis, Sommer (2009-06-12).
"Stead Park's Summer Movie Scheulde"
. DCist.com.
Archived
from the original on 2009-06-15
. Retrieved
2009-06-12
.
- ^
"Summer Movie Mania"
.
Washingtonian
. Retrieved
2009-06-12
.
- ^
Worsdale, James (2009-02-27).
"Sports"
.
Washington Blade
. Retrieved
2009-05-24
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
Krisberg, K. (2002-07-25).
"Renegades Rugby"
.
Metro Weekly
. Retrieved
2009-05-24
.
- ^
"DC Citizen Atlas Real Property Reports"
. Government of the District of Columbia. Archived from
the original
on 2009-04-30
. Retrieved
2009-05-24
.
- ^
"Historic Preservation Review Board Staff Report and Recommendation - 1625 P Street NW"
(PDF)
.
planning.dc.gov
. 2018-02-22.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 2022-08-04
. Retrieved
2022-10-02
.
- ^
"Stead - New Entrance, Central Plaza, and Playgrounds"
. Government of the District of Columbia. 2008
. Retrieved
2013-11-23
.
- ^
Williams, Paul Kelsey (September 2004).
"Scenes from the Past..."
(PDF)
. The InTowner. p. 12. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on March 25, 2006
. Retrieved
2008-12-22
.
- ^
1634?1699:
McCusker, J. J.
(1997).
How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda
(PDF)
.
American Antiquarian Society
.
1700?1799:
McCusker, J. J.
(1992).
How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States
(PDF)
.
American Antiquarian Society
.
1800?present:
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
"Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800?"
. Retrieved
February 29,
2024
.
- ^
Brune, Adrian (2004-07-23).
"Neighbors unsure about gay center at Stead Park"
.
Washington Blade
. Archived from
the original
on July 25, 2008
. Retrieved
2009-05-24
.
- ^
Chibbaro Jr., Lou (2004-11-19).
"D.C. gay community center to open in office building"
.
Washington Blade
. Archived from
the original
on November 20, 2008
. Retrieved
2009-05-24
.
- ^
"Mayor, D.C. Open Stead Park in Northwest"
.
The Washington Post
. 2008-12-15
. Retrieved
2008-12-22
.
- ^
"Stead Park Recreation Center Project"
. Government of the District of Columbia. 2022
. Retrieved
2023-09-10
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Stead Park
.