West End Friends

Duke Ellington Park.
Posted 06/20/11

Jazz legend Duke Ellington was born in the West End on April 29, 1899, at 2129 Ward Place. He was delivered by a midwife at the home where his parents lived with his maternal grandparents.

The establishment of Duke Ellington Park was a West End Friends project begun in 2009. Legislation establishing the park was introduced in the Council of the District of Columbia in 2009 and the bill became law in 2010.

The previously unnamed park, formerly known only as Reservation 140, is the triangular public space at the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue, M Street, and 21st Streets. (See location on current map and on 1924 real estate atlas.) The park is located only a few yards from Ellington's birthplace.

The house where the Ellingtons lived was torn down in the 1960s, before it was identified as the jazz great's birthplace in 1987. Two years later, on the 100th anniversary of Ellington's birth, the site, now occupied by an office building, was marked with a memorial plaque.

WEF suggested the naming of the park, which was supported by advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A, in the form of a resolution introduced by commission member Rebecca Coder.

The legislation was then introduced into the District Council by Ward 2 council member Jack Evans. WEF members testified at a Council hearing on the bill, which was chaired by Vincent Gray, who was then chairman of the Council. The legislation was signed by Mayor Adrian Fenty, submitted for review by the Congress of the United States, and became law on October 26, 2010.

Ellington's music, WEF believes, is his best memorial. The first birthday concert at the park was held on April 29, 2010, before the naming of the park was official. The jazz group King James and the Serfs of Swing, made up mostly of students from George Washington University, played a two-hour concert. Council member Jack Evans was among the speakers.

A second concert was held on April 29, 2011, with two jazz groups playing this time. King James and his group made a return engagement, and were joined by the New Washingtonians, a jazz combo from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, a public high school located in Georgetown. The photo at right shows some of the members of that group. Both bands were enthusiastically received, and the event drew a large crowd at the park.

Among the speakers this year were Mayor Vincent Gray, ANC-2A chair Rebecca Coder, and representatives of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Jazz expert and radio personality Dick Golden served as master of ceremonies.

WEF is planning another concert for 2012, and is organizing a campaign to raise funds for a bronze statue of Ellington to be erected on the site.