Like the Supreme Court last week, the space on which the Library of Congress now sits has had a pretty turbulent history. The actual buildings did not change – they started as Duff Green’s Row and remained until town down to make the Jefferson Building. But what happened in it was pretty turbulent.
Probably most famously, it was where Abraham Lincoln lived during his short career as a Representative. But it was also a place where slave traders did their ugly business. And after the Civil War, it was used to house freedmen and women and as a school.
The tearing down of this historic row of houses certainly removed a remarkable piece of history from the Hill, but the Library more than adequately replaced it.