Heffner Park and the Heffner Park Community Center on Oswego Avenue in Takoma Park are the results of decades of advocacy by the city’s African American residents. Takoma Park residents spent years campaigning for recreational outlets for Black children in the years before the county’s 1962 Public Accommodation Law, which prohibited discrimination in public facilities in Montgomery County.
To find Heffner Park and Community Center and all our historic districts, visit our interactive map.
Historic significance
When it was established in 1927, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) started developing a network of recreation areas and programs. However, the parks and programs were segregated, and recreation options for Black residents were limited and sub-standard. This discrimination particularly impacted children, who were banned from public parks and playgrounds and left without suitable places to play. By 1941, Takoma Park’s Black residents had joined together to seek the City’s support for recreation facilities dedicated to their community.
In the late 1940s to early 1950s, M-NCPPC constructed the Takoma Park Recreation Center for the City’s white residents, concurrent with the African American residents’ campaign for equal access to parks and community centers. The new 13-acre park provided modern indoor and outdoor recreational opportunities for white residents while leaving African American residents without.
After years of false starts, upheaval, advocacy, work and funding by the Black community, the current Heffner park was established and the community center was built. The building’s small size and simple style reflect how little of the city’s budget was invested in this facility primarily intended to serve Black residents. However, Heffner Park Community Center served as a critical meeting place for African American residents of Takoma Park and surrounding communities. In particular, the brief but impactful Teen Club offered local Black children their first opportunity to attend dances, play records, and socialize in public facilities like their white peers.
The Heffner Park Community Center reflects years of activism by Takoma Park’s Colored Citizens Association and by community leader Lee Jordan. As President of the Colored Citizens Association (CCA) in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Jordan spearheaded the CCA’s work and advocacy for the provision of public services to Black communities. Jordan is recognized as one of Takoma Park’s most influential figures for his central role in the integration of recreational sports and for his persistent advocacy for the city’s Black communities.
Read more about the site and its history in the Heffner Park and Community Center Designation Form
Process
The Heffner Park and Community Center were considered for designation as a part of the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment.
Designation of resources to the Master Plan for Historic Preservation requires the approval of the Historic Preservation Commission, Planning Board, and County Council. Each phase of review offers opportunities for public comment and testimony on the proposed designation.
At a worksession and public hearing held on May 10, 2023, the Historic Preservation Commission found that the Heffner Park and Community Center satisfies the designation criteria and voted unanimously to recommend that the Planning Board list the property in the Locational Atlas and Index of Historic Sites and amend the Master Plan for Historic Preservation in order to list the property as a Master Plan Historic Site.
On December 14, 2024, the Planning Board approved the Public Hearing Draft Plan, listed the property in the Locational Atlas and Index of Historic Sites, and recommended that the County Council amend the Master Plan for Historic Preservation to list the Mesrobian House as a Master Plan Historic Site.
The Planning Board next transmitted the Planning Board Draft Plan to the County Executive and County Council. The County Council voted to approve the historic designation at a public hearing held April 2, 2024.
Following the County Council’s approval, The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission moved to approve the designation. With this final approval, the designation officially amends the Master Plan for Historic Preservation in Montgomery County, Maryland (1979), the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan and the county’s General Plan: On Wedges and Corridors for the Physical Development of the Maryland-Washington Regional District in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties (1964).