An Entrance Sign at Hyattsville’s Magruder Park Goes Missing

One of the entrance signs to Magruder Park has been removed by an unknown source, and the city pre-emptively removed a second sign for safekeeping.

The city council has been looking into renaming the park, which is named for former mayor William Pinckney Magruder, who donated the land it sits on through a deed that noted it would be used for “Caucasian inhabitants only.”

As protesters have forcibly taken down statues around the country in recent days, the debate has been renewed among the public.

Whoever removed the sign at Magruder Park also damaged some of the stone wall behind it, and Public Works Director Lesley Riddle and City Administrator Tracey Douglas decided to avoid further damage to the stone walls, a city spokeswoman told the Hyattsville Wire.

“The sign removed this morning will not be replaced until the re-naming of the park is addressed by City Council,” communications manager Cindy Zork said.

Zork noted that the city is currently seeking to update the deed so that it can consider renaming the park, as renaming it before the deed is updated would open the city to “significant legal liabilities.” At that point, the city council will open up a public discussion about what to rename the park.

Hyattsville police are conducting an investigation into the removal of the sign.

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