McMillan San Filtration Site

Washington D.C. developed the McMillan Sand Filtration Site during the City Beautiful Movement, an urban planning philosophy created from the progressive social movement. It had an innovative water purification system that used sand instead of chemicals to filter water of toxins. Such a system eliminated the possibility of contaminations of diseases. 

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The creation of a park around the plant became a vibrant community green space:

"...delight in this rigidly segregated city in being able to enjoy its amenities regardless of race. Courting couples promenaded on the geometrically laid out avenues on the east site under a canopy of clipped trees. Families, on hot summer nights, slept in the site to catch the summer breezes that blew over the escarpment. During World War I the Girl Scouts camped and grew vegetables on the site between North Capitol Street and First Street. Boys played ball games on the east portion where there were fewer manhole covers near Michigan Avenue. They laughed about sometimes falling through the center of a vault to the white sand beneath when a manhole cover had been left open."

-- Testimony of Anne Sellin

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In 1986, the Corps of Engineers stated the property as excess and surplus. 

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In 1987, D.C. bought the property for $9.3 million to redevelop the site.

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In 2007, D.C. began to develop the site with Vision McMillian Partners. Neighboring communities immediately protested the development, but Vision has worked with these communities to get their input and hear their voices. 

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In 2016, the courts sided with protestors.

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In 2021, City Council authorized the demolition of the site. Protestors immediately flocked to the site and staged protests.