July 22, 2025
Mr. Van Hollen introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to remove or permanently conceal the name of Francis Newlands on the grounds of the memorial fountain located at Chevy Chase Circle in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Francis G. Newlands Memorial Removal Act
.
Sec. 2. Removal of Plaque and Concrete from Memorial Fountain Grounds
(a) In general
The Secretary of the Interior shall—
(1)
remove the brass plaque bearing the name Senator Francis G. Newlands
from the grounds of the memorial fountain;
(2)
remove from the south end of the memorial fountain’s face, the stone, tablet-like projection bearing the name of Francis Griffith Newlands
and a related inscription;
(3)
remove or permanently conceal the name Newlands
carved into the upper face of the memorial fountain’s coping stones; and
(4)
offer the items removed pursuant to paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) to the descendants of Francis Griffith Newlands for a period of 60 days, and if not claimed within that period, direct the items removed pursuant to paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) to be maintained by the National Park Service as Federal property and accessioned into the Rock Creek Park museum collection.
(b) Memorial fountain
For the purposes of this section, the term memorial fountain means the memorial fountain located at Chevy Chase Circle, Connecticut Avenue and Western Avenue NW, in the District of Columbia.