The drought is over at Meridian Hill Park. It’s not a mirage — after a seven‑year dry spell, the fountains at the historic Northwest D.C. park are finally flowing again.
On Friday, people were smiling, enjoying the sunny day and taking pictures in the park also known by locals as Malcolm X Park.
The 11-acre historic landmark sits along 16th Street NW between Euclid and W streets — and for many longtime visitors, seeing water return to the 13-basin cascade felt like getting a piece of the neighborhood back.
“I’ve forgotten how beautiful it was,” said Phyllis Blair, watching water spill down one of the longest cascading fountains of its kind in North America. “It’s so refreshing.”
Blair, who has lived in D.C. for 40 years, brought her dog Cooper and said she was taking photos for neighbors who had moved away.
Near the reflecting pool, Tyrone Austin looked up toward the top of the fountain and couldn’t hold back his reaction: “I love it, I love it, I love it!”
“Just the thought of it being remodeled is a great pleasure to the whole community,” he said.
Austin, a lifelong Washingtonian, said he used to hunt for Easter eggs in the park as a kid.
Not everyone felt nostalgia, however. Some individuals were seeing the fountain working for the very first time.
Reiland Brown, who has lived near the bottom of the park for the past year, told WTOP, “This is my first day seeing it with water actually working. It looks so beautiful. I didn’t even realize that much water in an area could exist.”
Up above the fountain, Zach Streit, a Georgetown Law student who lives nearby, watched in near disbelief. He visits often but had never seen the water running.
“It’s like Europe or something,” said Streit. “It’s a gorgeous park.”
Several visitors credited the National Park Service for the more than $10 million in repairs and noted the project was part of President Donald Trump’s executive order to beautify the nation’s capital.
The upper lawn in the park is partially closed as the NPS works to restore the grass turf. It will be closed off with fencing through the summer.
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