The Robert M. Krughoff Pickleball Center opens
Five free public courts now stand on the dead-end road where a group of neighbors started playing in 2018.
Founders Opening Day at the Krughoff Pickleball Center
In July 2018, a group of mostly Capitol Hill seniors, led by Robert Krughoff and Margaret Crenshaw, started playing pickleball on an abandoned dead-end road south of Garfield Park. They hauled out debris, patched the asphalt and painted their own lines.
In July 2026, five free public courts opened on that same spot.
Getting here took a lot of people. In 2023, the players, the Navy Yard BID, Councilmember Allen's staff, ANC commissioners, Capitol Hill Village and Friends and Neighbors of Garfield Park formed a stakeholder group. It then took three years to secure a public space permit from the District Department of Transportation. In spring 2026, alongside the Garfield Connector project, the courts were resurfaced, lined and netted, with barriers and a storage container – all paid for by community fundraising.
The Center is named in memory of Robert Krughoff, whose vision started it all. We helped raise the money, and now we manage, operate and program the courts, with paid site managers at peak hours and volunteer court ambassadors.
Play is free every day, with no sign-up. Just show up with a paddle.
Thank you to the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, Consumers' Checkbook, the Doug and Mei Smith Fund and the many individual donors who made it happen.