The last time the National Mall nearly ran out of space, planners and historians literally created more room for the nation’s monuments out of thin air — or rather, land. In 1902, the McMillan Commission, led by then-Sen. James McMillan of Michigan, was charged with expanding the National Mall, guided by Pierre L’Enfant’s original vision for the city. With the Washington Monument as the center axis, the commission envisioned extending the west end of the Mall to the Potomac River for a memorial honoring President Lincoln.
Meanwhile, the Tidal Basin was reshaped and land filled in to create a southern view of the Washington Monument where the Jefferson Memorial now sits.
Judy Scott Feldman, a historian and head of the National Coalition to Save our Mall, said the Mall today should again be expanded and noted that under-used land around the L’Enfant Promenade to the south and along the Potomac River to the west could be used for public memorials.
Her group is fighting a federal law that banned more development on the National Mall.
“We believe that the next museum or memorial … it’s crying for a Mall expansion,” she said. “The Mall was never intended to do what it’s trying to do now.”
