A refurbished carousel is expected to return to the National Mall in November 2025, two years after the Smithsonian removed it and just ahead of Washington, DC’s 2026 celebration of its 250th birthday.
The carousel, first installed on the National Mall in 1967, sat in front of the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building on Jefferson Drive SW until November 2023. It came from Baltimore’s Gwynn Oak Amusement Park, where hundreds of civil rights advocates protested segregation in July 1963. Gwynn Oak was Maryland’s first amusement park to desegregate.
The restoration of the carousel, built in 1947, takes it back to its “original grandeur,” the Smithsonian said in a 2023 news release, with the hand-carved horses repaired and refurbished. The jumping horses, with all of their legs off the ground, range in color from turquoise to palomino, according to the carousel’s history.
When the historic carousel comes back, it will have a revamped setting, the Washington Business Journal reports. Upgrades will include a new foundation, a new boardwalk-like structure, a new ticket booth, paths, and a new fence. Several other improvements are in store for the National Mall ahead of the 2026 celebration.
Feature image by Casey McAdams, Smithsonian
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