Rejected design for the Statue of Freedom
This design of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/534">Statue of Freedom</a> was rejected for its reference to slavery. It was one of three designs developed by sculptor Thomas Crawford for the top of the Capitol dome. In 1856, he proposed a statue with a “Liberty Cap.” This style of cap was seen on images of "Liberty" during the American Revolution and was inspired by caps given to slaves in Ancient Rome at their emancipation. Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War at the time, strongly opposed the proposal. Davis, a slaveowner and later named President of the Confederate States of America, rejected any design that seemed critical of slavery.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Thomas+Crawford">Thomas Crawford</a>
Architect of the Capitol. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/uscapitol/8393038282/">View original</a>.
1855
Unbuilt
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
Smithsonian grounds neglected
In his annual report for the year 1856, Secretary of the Smithsonian <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/349">Joseph Henry</a> complained that Congress had not provided money in the Smithsonian's budget to maintain the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/52">Institution</a>'s grounds. As a result, he said that the area around the building looked neglected. This photograph accompanying the report showed the state of the grounds. Although the grass and plants were not overgrown, the area lacked a landscape design appropriate for a national institution. By 1858, a small amount finally was allocated to care for the Smithsonian grounds, even if it was not enough to implement a new design.
Smithsonian Institution Archives. <a href="http://siris-sihistory.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!sichronology&uri=full=3100001~!38~!0#focus">View original.</a>
August 18, 1856
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
Discovery of America
In 1837, the President and Congress commissioned Italian-born artist Luigi Persico to create a sculpture depicting Christopher Columbus to be one of a pair of artworks flanking the staircase on the eastern entrance to the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/59">Capitol</a>. When it was installed in 1844, some politicians and art critics applauded it as a representation of Manifest Destiny. In 1958, <em>Discovery of America</em> and its companion piece <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/18"><em>The Rescue</em></a> were removed in preparation for renovations to the east facade of the Capitol. By that point, both American Indian advocacy groups and members of Congress were highly critical of the sculpture. It was not reinstalled when the renovation was completed.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Luigi+Persico">Luigi Persico</a>
Wikimedia Commons. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Discovery-statue.JPG">View original</a>.
1844 (installed)
1958 (removed)
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1950-1979">1950-1979</a>
United States Slave Trade
While not an exact image of the Mall, this abolitionist print shows the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/267">role of the federal city in the interstate slave trade</a> in the early 1800s. Slaves worked, lived, were <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/46">held captive, and sold</a> within sight of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/59">Capitol building</a>. In this print, the dome of the Capitol is visible above the head of a woman who, with her children, is being forced onto a slave ship, possibly sold to the deep south where working conditions were often very harsh, even deadly.
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661746/">View original</a>.
1830
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
City of Washington from beyond the Navy Yard
This painting from 1833 was published in New York City in 1834. It shows a view of Washington, DC from Anacostia. The Navy Yard and the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/59">Capitol</a> can be seen in the center, while the Arsenal and the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/66">White House</a> can be seen toward the left. The ships and ox carts help to show a city on the move, with a growing economy. The large amounts of open space and the rural nature of Anacostia show how 30 years after the federal government relocated to Washington the area was growing slowly into a city.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=G.+Cooke+%28painter%29+">G. Cooke (painter) </a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=W.J.+Bennett+%28engraver%29">W.J. Bennett (engraver)</a>
Library of Congress, <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/92520609/">View Original.</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
Brown's Indian Queen Hotel
There was a hotel on this part of Pennsylvania Avenue starting in 1805. In 1820 the business was bought by Jesse Brown in 1820 and the place was renamed Brown's Indian Queen Hotel. The hotel was popular with out of town visitors and congressmen alike. This lithograph from the 1830s describes it as "midway between the Capitol and the President's House." In 1856 the hotel was renamed the Metropolitan, and remained open under this name until 1932.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Endicott+%26+Swett">Endicott & Swett</a>
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93506552/">View original</a>.
1832
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
Andrew Jackson Memorial
At the center of Lafayette Park, along the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/66">White House</a>’s north side, stands this equestrian statue of President Andrew Jackson. Cast to commemorate Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans, the bronze statue was sculpted by artist Clark Mills in 1853. It is part of a set of four - the other statues stand in New Orleans, LA; Nashville, TN; and Jacksonville, FL. The base of the statue is inscribed, “Our Federal Union. It must be Preserved.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994003544/PP/">View original</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
William Hushka
William Hushka, an immigrant from Lithuania, was a World War I US Army veteran who joined the 1932 <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/169">Bonus Marchers</a> in their campaign to secure early payment of veterans' pensions from the government. Along with fellow veteran and marcher <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/434">Eric Carlson</a>, Hushka was shot and killed by <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/106">police</a> as they were trying to evict the Bonus Marchers from their encampment in Washington. He was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery less than a week after being shot.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=William+Hushka">William Hushka</a>
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96500547/">View original photograph</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
The Seat of Government of the United States
Freeman Hunt wrote a series of articles for his Merchants' Magazine in the spring of 1848 describing the history and current state of the capital city, which was mostly undeveloped at the time. In the second installment of the series he wrote about the Mall. Although it looked like a <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/284">cow pasture</a>, Freeman felt that it would be relatively easy and inexpensive to make a space which would rival the avenues and parks of Europe.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Freeman+Hunt">Freeman Hunt</a>
<em>The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review</em>, volume 18. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=4QcdAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA17&ots=EpUCcYMXyI&dq=merchants'%20magazine%20vol%20xviii&pg=PA149#v=onepage&q&f=false">View original</a>.
1848
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
Solomon Brown
Solomon Brown was likely the first African American employee at the Smithsonian Institution. He began work there in 1852 as a maintenance worker, building exhibit cabinets, cleaning, and moving specimens. He advanced to serve as clerk to Secretary <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/150">Spencer Baird</a>, who relied on him to serve as his eyes and ears in the Smithsonian. During the Civil War, Brown kept Baird informed about possible Confederate attacks and the status of work in the Museum. He worked closely with Baird as a naturalist and became an illustrator, lecturer, and philosopher.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Solomon+Brown">Solomon Brown</a>
Smithsonian Institution Archives. <a href="http://www.siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_5597?back=%2Fsearch%2Fsia_search_collections%2FSolomon%2520Brown">View original photograph</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1860-1889">1860-1889</a>