McDonald’s is coordinating with Hall’s Hill residents to replace a local Black history mural after the company’s contractor demolished it earlier this month.
In a new response to residents’ questions and concerns, the fast food chain acknowledged the significance of the 33-year-old brick and cinder-block wall on its property at 4834 Langston Blvd.
“This mural was a meaningful tribute to the history of Hall’s Hill,” McDonald’s USA told ARLnow. “Unfortunately, the wall it was painted on had to be replaced due to safety concerns related to its age and structural condition. We are actively working with community groups to ensure the next steps honor and reflect the spirit of our neighborhood.”
John M. Langston Citizens Association President Wilma Jones confirmed that outreach efforts are happening and said that McDonald’s is awaiting county approval to build a new structure in the wall’s place.
“They are working with us, and they have every commitment,” Jones told ARLnow. “We’ll probably get the same muralist to redo the mural … but whatever it is, they will be working with the community in order to have the mural repainted.”
Ginger Brown, executive director of the Langston Boulevard Alliance, added that the restaurant apologized to residents for its “communication fallout” during a local meeting last week.
“They acknowledge they should have done a better job notifying the neighborhood [about the demolition], but that they are interested in working with the neighborhood once the new structure is put up,” Brown said.
The public artwork bordering Langston-Brown Park’s tennis courts was painted in the 1990s after McDonald’s granted permission to the county’s Visual Arts division to commission a mural on the property’s former barrier wall.
When a contractor damaged the former wall with a snow plow, McDonald’s paid for its restoration in 2020, Brown and Jones said.
The mural had stood since 1992, depicting a local fire station, community center and children playing in the historically Black neighborhood. The fast food chain’s decision to tear down the wall while replacing a restaurant on the property surprised and disappointed many neighbors.
McDonald’s did not respond to a request for more information on what the mural’s replacement will look like.
