Project Overview
Located at a key intersection on N Market Street, the Seventh Street Fountain Park currently is an underutilized open space in need of investment. The project underway, led by the Partnership with many partners, creates a great opportunity to respond to community input by adding seating, creating shade, providing flexible open space, establishing a physical and visual buffer to the street edge and becoming a new home for public art. The new park design includes all these ideas and more.
The Partnership is working with the City of Frederick, the Ausherman Family Foundation and the African American Resources Cultural Heritage Society of Frederick County (the AARCH Society) to significantly improve the park. The City of Frederick has committed to fund the refurbishment of the historic fountain as well as crosswalk improvements. The Foundation is matching the City investment dollar for dollar by funding necessary design/construction documents as well as a portion of the capital costs of implementing the park space redesign. Additional funding support is provided by the State of Maryland, the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the Maryland State Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, Visit Frederick and Frederick Health Hospital.
The AARCH Society and the Partnership are working together with the support of the other partners and have hired an experienced professional artist, Rodney Carroll, to create and install a freestanding contemporary sculpture in the park. The new artwork will provide an opportunity to recognize our shared humanity, honor the highest within us and call us all to the work of creating a more sustainable community.
Seventh Street Fountain Park
When complete, the park will feature a newly refurbished fountain, first installed in 1890, and a 19-foot-tall sculpture informed by the African American burial grounds historically located near this site. The artwork and park improvements will be unveiled alongside a new African American Heritage Center, opening on the opposite end of Downtown Frederick. Together, these two sites will continue the conversation of African American history and culture in Frederick County.
Park Improvements
- Restoration of historic fountain
- Creates a much-needed gathering space for the neighborhood, which includes a stage and moveable furniture
- Enhanced landscaping that defines the space and creates a clearer seperation between traffic and pedestrians
- Improved lighting to make the space safer after dark
- New public artwork, which honors the community and creates a symbolic connection between this site and the new African American Heritage Center
Park Implementation Timeline
The park design and artwork has approval from the City Public Art Commission, Parks & Recreation Commission and the Historic Preservation Commission. The project is currently under construction.
