Stead Park - Wikiwand

Park in Washington, D.C., U.S.

Area1.5 acres (0.61 ha)

Stead Park
Stead Park, looking north
Location within Washington, D.C.
Type	Urban park
Location	Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°54′36″N 77°02′15″W / 38.91°N 77.037611°W / 38.91; -77.037611
Area	1.5 acres (0.61 ha)
Created	1953
Operated by	D.C. Parks & Recreation
Status	Open all year

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 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,^[2] 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.^[3]

The park has hosted public events such as Summer Movie Mania, an outdoor screening sponsored by the city government.^[4]^[5]^[6] Stead Park has also been 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.^[7]^[8]

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] (equivalent to $960,000 in 2025^[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." The new recreation center opened in Spring 2024.^[15] Its design by VMDO Architects allowed the facility to be the first net-zero community center in the District.^[16]

References

↑ "Stead Recreation Center". Government of the District of Columbia. Archived from the original on June 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
↑ "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.
↑ 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. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008. 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.
↑ "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. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
↑ "Stead Park Recreation Center Project". Government of the District of Columbia. 2022. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
↑ "Stead Park Recreation Center". VMDO Architects. Retrieved 2025-06-03.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stead Park.

Friends of Stead Park
2008 archaeological survey at Stead Park

v t e Parks of Washington, D.C.
District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation
Ward 1	Meridian Hill (Malcolm X) Park
Ward 2	Anniversary Duke Ellington Dupont Circle Edward J. Kelly Edward R. Murrow The Ellipse Francis Scott Key Memorial Franklin Square Freedom Plaza Georgetown Waterfront Lafayette Square Logan Circle McPherson Square Mitchell National Mall National World War I Memorial (Pershing Park) Rawlins Seaton Sonny Bono Memorial Stead Walt Whitman Washington Circle West Potomac
Ward 3	Battery Kemble Bryce Fletcher's Cove Fort Reno Friendship "Turtle" Tregaron Estate Tregaron Conservancy
Ward 4	Grant Circle Little Forest Sherman Circle Fort Slocum
Ward 5	Barnard Hill Fort Bunker Hill Fort Lincoln Fort Totten National Arboretum
Ward 6	Bartholdi Capitol Hill Capitol Reflecting Pool East Potomac Folger Garfield John Marshall Lincoln Marion Milian Providence (X) Rigo Walled Seward Square Spirit of Justice Stanton Union Square United States Capitol Grounds Vincent R. Sombrotto
Ward 7	Anacostia Fort Davis Fort Dupont Kingman and Heritage Islands
Ward 8	Anacostia Fort Greble Oxon Run Shepherd Parkway

v t e Dupont Circle
Historic sites	Carnegie Institution of Washington Alma Thomas House American Revolution Statuary Andrew Mellon Building The Cairo Charlotte Forten Grimké House Elliott Coues House Embassy Gulf Service Station Fraser Mansion Holmead's Burying Ground Larz Anderson House Massachusetts Avenue Historic District Miles Mansion Patterson Mansion Perry Belmont House Robert Simpson Woodward House Spencer Carriage House and Stable Strivers' Section Historic District Sulgrave Club Thomas Nelson Page House Walsh Mansion Walsh Stable Whittmore House
Houses of worship	Cathedral of St. Matthew Edlavitch Jewish Community Center DC Minyan Friends Meeting of Washington Church of the Pilgrims St. Thomas' Parish Universalist National Memorial Church
Streets and bridges	14th Street 16th Street NW 18th Street NW Dumbarton Bridge Florida Avenue Connecticut Avenue Massachusetts Avenue M Street New Hampshire Avenue P Street P Street Bridge Rhode Island Avenue Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway
Education	Emerson Preparatory School The Institute of World Politics School for Ethics and Global Leadership University of California, Washington Center
Parks	Dupont Circle Fountain Sonny Bono Memorial Park Stead Park
Establishments	Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld American Bankers Association American Council on Education Amideast Center for Global Development Cosmos Club Diego's Hair Salon Electronic Privacy Information Center Federation of American Scientists Freedom House German Marshall Fund HALO Trust House of the Temple Human Rights Campaign Jane Goodall Institute Keegan Theatre Komi Kramers Ocean Conservancy Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Population Action International Public Citizen RealClear Media Group Reason Foundation Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism Society for Science Society of the Cincinnati Steptoe & Johnson Theater J The Dupont Circle Hotel The FP Group The Optical Society Vox Media
Think tanks	American Enterprise Institute Brookings Institution Center for Economic and Policy Research Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Carnegie Institution for Science Center for Strategic and International Studies Middle East Institute Peterson Institute for International Economics Progressive Policy Institute The Stimson Center
Museums	Laogai Museum National Museum of American Jewish Military History The Mansion on O Street The Phillips Collection Woodrow Wilson House
Places	Embassy Row Think Tank Row
Northwest (Washington, D.C.) Category

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