With cities around the country pulling down Confederate statues and recognizing Juneteenth, debate over renaming Hyattsville’s largest park has been renewed.

Magruder Park is named for former mayor William Pinckney Magruder, who donated 32 acres of land for it. But in 2018, the Hyattsville Community Development Corporation noted that the deed said the resulting park should be for “Caucasian inhabitants only.”

CDC Executive Director Stuart Eisenberg says he has found no information on who added the restriction, but it has led some to call for renaming the park.

As Route 1 Reporter noted in May, the city council has directed its lawyers to looking into a legal way to change the park’s name, since it is also mandated on the deed. But what to rename the park remains up in the air.

One obvious suggestion is Jim Henson, the University Park resident who went to school in Hyattsville before creating the Muppets. A small tribute to Henson can already be seen in the park.

In recent days, users of the HOPE in Hyattsville listserv have suggested two other possibilities: Morgan Wootten, the legendary basketball coach at DeMatha Catholic High School who died earlier this year, and David Driskell, the esteemed African-American artist and University of Maryland professor, who died from the coronavirus in April.

As one user noted, Driskell lived just a few blocks from the park and the area is currently designated an arts district. It would also be a particularly apt way to atone for the park’s original sin to rename it for someone who was pivotal in bringing national recognition to African-American art.

The renaming will be discussed at the Family March for Black Lives to be held at Magruder Park from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, June 27, which was rescheduled from from this Saturday due to the weather.