Old Market House Square Groundbreaking!

After years of work by St. Philip Episcopal Church, TKF Foundation, members of the neighborhood, and the District (mostly DDOT), groundbreaking for the revived and re-imagined Old Market House Square is taking place this Thursday, April 14th, at 1pm! Old Market House Square is the public space on 14th Street SE between U and V Streets, and was originally built as the central square and gathering space of the neighborhood.


View Old Market House Square in a larger map

Old Market House Square was renamed John A. Logan Park in the summer of 1908 after the Civil War general that is also honored in Logan Circle. However, to avoid name confusion with Logan Circle and because the relevance of the 1908 renaming no longer really holds, the community has decided to revert to the older and more neighborly name for the space. (see below)


Washington Post, June 11, 1908, pg. 16

The space is currently just a pass-through, and an unpleasant one at that. The square will undergo a complete renovation with new lighting, walls, bench seating, paths, and plantings.


image courtesy of TKF Foundation

The park construction will also include street repaving and new crosswalks. See the detailed plan below (click to enlarge) to see how it's all going to be paid out:


drawing courtesy of DDOT

Please come out this Thursday at 1pm for the official groundbreaking. This has been a long time coming, and will be a huge boost for this very central spot in the neighborhood!