Building and Grounds 249 



After the present site had been selected, there appears to 

 have been some dissatisfaction in regard to it ; nor is this to 

 be wondered at, since at that time the Mall was remote from 

 the inhabited portion of the city, being a part of what was 

 then known as "The Island," now called South Washington. 

 This portion of the city was cut off by an old and unsightly 

 canal, running to the Potomac, and crossed by simple wooden 

 bridges at four points between the Capitol and the Potomac 

 River. It was unfenced and waste, occupied from time to 

 time by military encampments and by traveling showmen. 

 After the completion of the east wing in 1850, when the first 

 lectures were held in the Institution, the Regents were 

 obliged to build plank walks for the accommodation of visit- 

 ors. Indeed, with the exception of the Capitol grounds and 

 those surrounding the Executive Mansion, the open places in 

 the city were entirely unimproved. 



Soon after the selection of the present site, the question 

 was reconsidered by the Board, and a committee appointed 

 to obtain, if possible, another location. In the bill as it finally 

 passed Congress, permission had been given to locate the 

 building on the space between the Patent Office and Seventh 

 Street, now occupied by the building used for the offices of 

 the Interior Department. This was partly to enable the Insti- 

 tution to utilize for its collections the large hall in the Patent 

 Office then assigned to the " National Cabinet of Curiosi- 

 ties," partly, no doubt, to secure a more central location. To 

 obtain this ground, however, it was necessary to have the 

 approval of the President of the United States and other 

 public officials, which was not found practicable. The Com- 

 mittee fixed upon Judiciary Square, an open space of rough 

 ground, in which at that time the City Hall (a portion of 

 the present structure), the Infirmary, and the City Jail 

 were located. Though the adjoining streets were entirely 

 ^7 



