Bill would remove Nevada senator’s name from fountain

WASHINGTON – Legislation to dump the segregationist legacy of the late Sen. Francis G. Newlands of Nevada into the “dustbin of history” received a congressional hearing Thursday.

A bill filed by District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., would remove a plaque honoring Newlands from a traffic circle fountain on the Washington, D.C.-Maryland border which is maintained by the National Park Service.

A wealthy senator minted from the silver boom in Northern Nevada, Newlands bought and developed the land that became the villages of Chevy Chase, affluent D.C. and Maryland neighborhoods with covenants that once prohibited ownership by Blacks and Jews.

“Newlands belongs in the dustbin of history, not preserved on a traffic circle that symbolizes the unity between the nation’s capital and the state of Maryland,” Norton told the House Natural Resources subcommittee on national parks, forests and public lands.

The subcommittee heard testimony on numerous bills filed by lawmakers pertaining to various issues. Norton and Raskin are seeking congressional authorization to have the plaque removed from National Park Service maintained property — a water fountain at a traffic circle on Connecticut Avenue.

The lawmakers are seeking a full House vote on their bill later this year.

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., supports Norton’s effort to have the plaque removed.

There is no formal opposition.

Companion legislation has been filed in the Senate by Democrats Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both of Maryland.

Newlands served in Congress from Nevada from 1883 to 1917. He died of a heart attack on Dec. 24, 1917 in his Capitol Hill office. He was 69, according to a New York Times obituary.

During his time in Congress, Newlands called for repeal of the 15th Amendment which granted African-American men the right to vote.

The Nevada senator also voted against the Supreme Court nomination of Louis Brandeis, the first man of Jewish ancestry to be named to the high court.

Born in Mississippi, Newlands grew up in California and married the daughter of Comstock mining and banking magnate William Sharon. When Newlands’ wife died during childbirth, he became executor of her estate and moved to Nevada, according to the Reno Historical Society.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.