Melvin Hazen
Melvin C. Hazen | |
---|---|
John Russell Young | |
Personal details | |
Born | Catlett, Virginia, U.S. | October 27, 1867
Died | July 15, 1941 Washington, D.C., U.S. | (aged 73)
Resting place | Manassas Cemetery, Manassas City, Virginia |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse |
Mary Smith (m. 1895) |
University of Maryland | |
Profession | Doctor, Politician |
Melvin Colvin Hazen (October 27, 1867 – July 15, 1941) was a Washington, DC politician who served as the 17th president of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia, from 1933 to 1941; and the only one to die in office.
Early life
Hazen was born in
As the Surveyor was responsible for extensions of the street grid and recording the location of public lands, he served as the principal figure involved in urban planning decades before D.C. had such an office. During this time, he spoke out on matters in the nascent field of planning, and in support of the McMillan Plan. As Surveyor, he was tasked with enforcing a 1914 act that called for the slum clearance of Washington's inhabited alleys. The alleys were streets, often wide, that broke up the often large blocks of Washington's original street plan. The residents of alleys were primarily working-class and African American. Hazen supported the clearances but raised concerns about the process.[4]
He was married to Mary Smith in 1895 and she preceded him in death in 1939.
Board of Commissioners
In 1933, with the support of his friend
Constance McLaughlin Green, in her history of the District of Columbia, Washington: Capital City, 1879–1950, considered him emblematic of the pleasant but business-friendly and ineffectual caretakers who oversaw DC during its unelected government.
Park and Controversy
Melvin C. Hazen Park, a wooded valley around a tributary of Rock Creek between Cleveland Park and Van Ness was named in his honor.
During his time as Surveyor, he advocated for the clearance of the largely African American community of Reno for a park and schools. He first advocated for the demolition in a report in 1914 and returned to the topic in the early 1920s. Hazen prepared a plan for the park in 1924. In 1926, he testified in support of the clearance before the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, when a bill to fund the plan was proposed.[1] This plan was eventually enacted by others between 1926 and the 1950s, creating Fort Reno Park and Alice Deal Middle School.[3]
In November 2020, the neighborhood council that represents Melvin C. Hazen Park requested that the National Park Service, the federal agency that manages the park, change its name, citing his importance in the clearance of Reno, [4] and the following February, D.C. Congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton echoed that call.[6] In February 2022, the NPS announced that it would remove his name.[7]
Notes
- ^ a b Flanagan, Neil (November 2, 2017). "The Battle of Fort Reno". Washington City Paper. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
- ^ "'Mel' Hazen Met Death With His 'Boots On'". The Washington Post. July 16, 1941.
- ^ a b c Moyer, Justin Wm. (March 6, 2021). "Melvin Hazen tried to erase a 'colored' D.C. neighborhood. Residents wants to erase him". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
- ^ DCist. Archivedfrom the original on March 29, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
- ^ "D.C. Mourns Hazen's Death". The Washington Post. July 15, 1941.
- ^ Holmes Norton, Eleanor (February 21, 2021). "Norton Requests National Park Service Change Name of Melvin Hazen Park". United States House of Representatives (Press release). Retrieved May 2, 2021.
- ^ Massimo, Rick (February 23, 2022). "DC's Melvin Hazen Park to get a new name". WTOP-FM. Retrieved February 23, 2022.