Francis G. Newlands Memorial Removal Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the Francis G. Newlands Memorial Removal Act, which would remove the plaque and inscriptions on a fountain bearing Francis G. Newlands' name from Chevy Chase Circle, a federal park located in both the District of Columbia and Maryland. Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland joins me in introducing this bill. and Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is the sponsor of the companion bill.

Newlands was a U.S. senator from Nevada, a conservationist and the founder of the Chevy Chase Land Company, which developed the Chevy Chase neighborhood that touches D.C. and Maryland. Newlands was also a segregationist. He built Connecticut Avenue and ran a streetcar up the road to the newly built Chevy Chase Lake. However, homes on Connecticut Avenue were purposely priced to keep working families out, and covenants were later added to many of the property deeds in Chevy Chase explicitly prohibiting the land from ever being owned by African Americans or Jews. These covenants have since been declared void. Newlands went further to keep Black and White Americans separate. In the late 1800s, he and Senator William Stewart secured 2,000 acres of land for Rock Creek Park. Establishing this park not only increased property values for landowners like Newlands and Stewart, but also kept White communities separate from emerging Black communities on what they called the ``wrong side of the park.'' Newlands' racist views went even further. In 1912, he called for the repeal of the 15th amendment, which gave African-American men the right to vote.

The fountain in Chevy Chase Circle was established in 1932 by Congress. In 1990, the Chevy Chase Land Company added a plaque with Newlands' name next to the fountain. A resolution to remove Newlands' name from the fountain was first introduced by the D.C. Chevy Chase Advisory Neighborhood Commission in 2014. On July 27, 2020, the commission voted unanimously to ask the National Park Service (NPS) to remove the plaque bearing Newlands' name and to begin discussion on a new name for the fountain. On September 14, 2020, the Maryland Chevy Chase Village Board of Managers adopted a resolution calling on NPS and Congress to remove any mention of Newlands from the fountain. On April 19, 2022, the Montgomery County Council introduced a resolution affirming the county's support for this bill. Newlands should not be honored on federal land.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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