The park was established in the 1920s to clear an African American neighborhood called Reno from the site, in what was becoming an affluent white suburban area.

[3] The bandstand located on the south side of the reservoir has hosted an annual DIY concert series that has been important to the D.C.'s music scene, particularly the D.C. hardcore punk community.

In early August 1861, engineers in charge of the defenses of Washington identified the tall hill on the Dyer estate as a critical site for protecting against invasion along the three roads that converged from the northwest in Tenleytown.

As anticipated by the military engineers, The Confederates attacked from the northwest, crossing the Potomac near Harper's Ferry and coming down the river valley.

[6][2] Public utilization of the land under Fort Reno Park has depended heavily on its nature as DC's highest point.

Plans to memorialize the Civil War Defenses of Washington date to the 1860s, particularly the idea of a road connecting the high points that once served as redoubts.

During the Cold War, a Presidential Emergency Facility installation was constructed at Fort Reno, disguised as a water tower.

The tower was a part of a string of similar installations that connected the White House to "Site R" Raven Rock in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.

Fort Reno's annual free summer concert series started in the Summer of 1968, amid social unrest following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.[7] The 2014 series was the subject of drama, as the National Park Service suddenly demanded that organizers pay for US Park Police to be present at each concert.

The Highpointers Foundation is working with the National Park Service to place a sign near the USGS marker so that the spot is easier to locate.