Crispus Attucks Rec Center Reopens

Mayor Pugh addressing the crowd at the reopening event
Kids and rec center employees work on craft projects while Mayor Pugh addresses the crowd at the reopening event

Expanded from a post at Promise Heights.

After being shut down for 5 years, the Crispus Attucks Recreation Center officially reopened to the public on June 22, 2017. Councilman Eric T. Costello, University of Maryland School of Social Work Dean Richard P. Barth and Mayor Catherine E. Pugh spoke at the reopening event.

Ever since the center was closed by Baltimore City Recreation and Parks, local neighborhood organizations have been lobbying to have it reopened, especially after the uprising following the death of Freddie Gray in 2015.

“Today would not be possible without the spirit of collaboration among the Department of Parks and Recreation, the University of Maryland School of Social Work, Promise Heights, community associations, and the families who called this neighborhood time and time again to come together, to be together, to work together,” Pugh said.

Kids enjoying the rec center

The recreation center is located behind Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary School and will be a site for the Baltimore City Recreation & Parks summer program, Camp Baltimore. In session from June 19 to August 25, the camp provides a full range of programing all summer long, including swimming, outdoor education, arts and crafts, academic enrichment, field trips, and other fun activities for neighborhood children.

The name of the rec center honors Crispus Attucks, a dockworker of Wampanoag and African descent who is believed to be the first person killed in the American Revolution at the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770.