Benjamin Banneker: SW-9 Intermediate Boundary Stone

Benjamin Banneker: SW 9 Intermediate Boundary Stone
SW9 Boundary Stone
Location 18th and Van Buren Sts., Arlington and Falls Church, Virginia
Coordinates 38°53′31″N 77°9′34″W / 38.89194°N 77.15944°WCoordinates: 38°53′31″N 77°9′34″W / 38.89194°N 77.15944°W
Built 1792
Governing body Local
NRHP Reference # 76002094
Significant dates
Added to NRHP May 11, 1976[1]
Designated NHL May 11, 1976[2]

Benjamin Banneker: SW 9 Intermediate Boundary Stone, also known as an Intermediate Stone of the District of Columbia, is a surveyors' boundary marker stone. It is a one foot square sandstone block, extending about 18 inches above ground and probably about 2 feet below ground.[3]

The stone is one of 40 boundary markers of the original District of Columbia. It presently marks the boundary between the City of Falls Church and Arlington County, Virginia. It is within Arlington County's Benjamin Banneker Park.[4]

It was named and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976 at the instigation of the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation.[2][3][5] The stone was the first of the District of Columbia boundary markers to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Perhaps only by its naming in 1976, it is associated with the life of Benjamin Banneker, (1731-1806), an African American surveyor, mathematician and astronomer who assisted Andrew Ellicott during the first three months of Ellicott's 1791-1792 survey of the boundaries of the original District of Columbia.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Banneker (Benjamin) SW-9 Intermediate Boundary Stone". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Graves, Lynne Gomez (Historical Projects Director, Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation) (February 3, 1976). "Benjamin Banneker: SW-9 Intermediate Boundary Stone (milestone) of the District of Columbia". United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service: National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved August 9, 2011. and Accompanying three photos, undated PDF (32 KB)
  4. ↑ "Benjamin Banneker Park". Department of Parks and Recreation, Arlington County, Virginia. Archived from the original on 2012-09-07. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  5. ↑ "Benjamin Banneker: SW 9 Intermediate Boundary Stone". VIRGINIA - Arlington County. National Register of Historic Places.com. p. 1. Archived from the original on July 21, 2010. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  6. ↑ Bedini, Silvio A. (1999), The Life of Benjamin Banneker: The First African-American Man of Science, Second edition, Maryland Historical Society. ISBN 0-938420-59-3
  7. ↑ Any historic association with Banneker may not be clear. The NHL nomination for the stone was prepared by the same organization and individual who erroneously identified two other sites, in contemporaneous NHL nominations of other African-Americans. See Denmark Vesey House and Florence Mills House.