In 2021, the National Park Service (NPS) received several letters requesting the removal the name of Melvin Hazen from Reservation 630, a park area and associated tributary within Rock Creek Park. The NPS has carefully considered the circumstances of the park’s naming and concluded that the Melvin Hazen name should be removed from this park. Moving forward, the park will be referred to as Reservation 630.
The naming of Melvin Hazen Park was a NPS administrative, rather than congressional, action that occurred in 1942, shortly after Hazen's death. As president of the District of Columbia (DC) Board of Commissioners from 1933 to 1941, Melvin Hazen was instrumental in the displacement of Black residents from the Reno City area of northwest Washington which created what is now Fort Reno Park. More information on Melvin Hazen is located on the history section of the park website.
We have considered this history, as well as current law, regulation, and policy that govern our actions, and we have concluded that the NPS has administrative authority to remove the name. We do not, however, have the authority to rename the park in honor of any person, group of persons, historic site, or event because of restrictions laid out in the Commemorative Works Act of 1986 (Public Law 99–652; 40 U.S.C. chapter. 89)(CWA). The CWA says that the responsibility for authorizing commemorative place names on NPS land in Washington, DC resides with Congress. Therefore, this park will be officially referred to by its reservation number, as is the case with many other NPS parcels in DC. We will also remove the Hazen name from the park’s trail and community garden.
Though the stream in Reservation 630 is commonly referred to as Melvin Hazen Stream, it has been confirmed with the US Board on Geographic Names that the stream has no official name.
The park is working to acquire new signs which reflects the name removal. While the installation of the signs may take some time, we did not want to delay the news of the decision to remove the Melvin Hazen name from the park.
