St. Elizabeths historic campus to open to public

St. Elizabeths historic Hospital East Campus plans to show off what was largely off limits to the public for almost a century. The historic campus in Washington, D.C.’s Ward 8 will open on Saturday to the public, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., for family fun, including mural making, face painting, music, and local art displays. “People will see when they get onto the campus that it really is a pretty remarkable site,” said Ethan Warsh, a project manager at D.C.’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.

St. Elizabeths Hospital, which dates back to the 1850s, was originally a federally-run facility to care for those with mental health issues. The master plan for the 183-acre campus is to shape it into a cultural hub, encompassing retail options, smaller stores, and coffee shops for the community. Warsh said, “What we envision with that master plan is really a mixed use, very vibrant community adjacent to the Metro, leveraging the strong economy that we have in this region to bring a huge amount of new economic activity to that side of the River and into Ward 8.”