A project to turn a segregation-era barrier between Brentwood and North Brentwood into a historic park is moving ahead after a delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Built in 1957, the metal barrier on Windom Road long separated the white community of Brentwood from the black community of North Brentwood.

North Brentwood formally asked for the barrier to be removed at least three times through the late 1960s, but it remains in place.

The two towns came together in 2020 to remove the barrier and turn the road into the Windom Road Historic Barrier Park, which is being designed by the nonprofit Neighborhood Design Center.

Beltsville artist Nehemiah Dixon III, director of community engagement at The Phillips Collection modern art museum in D.C., recently unveiled plans for a memorial at the park. His design features a sculpture of two hands holding the barrier in the air, allowing residents to walk around and beneath it.

The park would also include decorative paving, benches, new trees and interpretive signs including first-hand accounts from residents.

Brentwood Mayor Rocio Tremenio-Lopez called the creation of the park a “historic moment” that is “bridging two communities that in the past were divided by color.”

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