The name Swampoodle has a following of sorts. The century-old Irish immigrant nickname for NoMa will grace the neighborhood’s next park with overwhelming backing from the community.

With more than 900 votes, Swampoodle Terrace was selected by a more than 20-point margin as the preferred name for the NoMa Parks Foundation’s latest green space (already informally dubbed Swampoodle II about a year ago). The 5,400-square-foot future terrace is located across L Street NE from Swampoodle Park at the corner of Third and L streets.

The term dates back to the 1800s, when residents nicknamed the area for the frequently flooding nearby Tiber Creek — the word Swampoodle itself is a combination of “swamp” and “puddle.”

“This seemed the most apt,” Robin-Eve Jasper, president of the parks foundation and the former president of NoMa BID, tells DCist/WAMU. Community members voted on three options: Swampoodle Terrace, Union Garden, and Tiber Creek Park. All three had roots in the neighborhood, from its proximity to Union Station and Union Market, to the buried Tiber Creek that continues to flow under NoMa. Voting took place from February 22 through March 8.

The D.C. Council and Mayor Muriel Bowser must approve the name before it’s final. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, whose district includes the new park, said in a statement that he “looked forward” to working with the council and mayor on officially approving the name.

Construction on the new park began on February 25 with Jasper hopeful that it will open to the public by early autumn at the latest.

When the foundation bought the land for what is now Swampoodle Park, Jasper says, they tried to acquire the site for Swampoodle Terrace across the street. However, the foundation was unable to buy the terrace site at the time, and moved forward with just the original park site on the southwest corner of Third and L streets NE. Swampoodle opened in 2018.

“We thought of those two sites as bookends that would make a meaningful park space in the community,” she says. “They have all the elements — dog park, kids play area, places for gathering, [and] gardens — that we would want in any single park. It’s just in two related spaces.”

The design for Swampoodle Terrace includes a boxcar, a grassy oval where kids can play or residents can do yoga, and — true to its new name — a terraced garden at its entrance. Swampoodle Park across the street has a dog park and jungle gym climbing structure for kids.

The naming process for Swampoodle Terrace began with NoMa Parks’ soliciting community input beginning in January. While the foundation did receive some “Parky McParkface”-like suggestions, Jasper said most were thoughtful about the location or neighborhood’s history. Historical suggestions included naming the park after Mark Dixon, a former Ward 6 ANC commissioner who worked on the creation of the NoMa Business Improvement District; Earl Lloyd, the first Black National Basketball Association player who started with the Washington Capitols in 1950; and William Hoy, the first deaf professional baseball player who began his career with the Washington Senators in 1888.

There is precedent for NoMa to name a park after a locally significant historical person. Alethia Tanner Park, which is adjacent to the Metropolitan Branch Trail just north of the New York Avenue bridge and opened in 2020, is named after the formerly enslaved woman who helped open the District’s first school for African American children, the Bell School, in 1807.

NoMa bought the land for Swampoodle Terrace for $3.4 million in September 2019. The deal was the latest in several acquisitions it has made since the D.C. Council committed $50 million to park development in the area in 2013. Past purchases included the land for Swampoodle Park, as well as for Tanner Park.

The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation will own the new park, along with Swampoodle and Tanner.