Under Armour Founder Helps Rehabilitation of Kensington Cabin

Kensington Cabin | Montgomery Parks

The rehabilitation of the historic Kensington Cabin will get a financial assist in the form of a $150,000 donation from the Cupid Foundation, a private foundation formed by Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin A. Plank and his family.

The cabin, constructed during the New Deal, will retain its Kensington Cabin name and be dedicated as the Mayor Jayne H. Plank Kensington Cabin. Kevin Plank is Jayne Plank’s son, according to a statement from Montgomery Parks.

The county also contributed to the cabin’s renewal.

People in Kensington have worked for years to bring the cabin back after its closure because of infrastructure failure. The citizens worked to get the building designated on the County’s Master Plan for Historic Preservation and helped with the initial fundraising effort. Plank, who grew up spending summers at Kensington Cabin with his siblings, donated money based on memories of the cabin and a desire to preserve it for future generations, according to the statement.

The cabin, in Kensington Cabin Local Park, was planned as a Civic Works Administration project, but was built by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission after a cut in the federal program.  In 1934, Blanche C. Armstrong of the Woman’s Club of Kensington, who had proposed the creation of Kensington Park nearly 10 years earlier, cut the ribbon at a large community celebration.

The rehabilitation of the cabin is already underway, and is expected to be complete in late 2017.  It will be available for the same types of gatherings it always hosted, including birthday parties, camps and other programs through the Parks Permitting Office.

About Staff Writer

View all posts by Staff Writer