Photo 6- History of Lafayette Park

The Freedman's Bank was founded in 1865 and later moved its headquarters to Lafayette Square. The building cost more than $200,000 to build. Upon completion, new bank president Frederick Douglass described his reaction to the new building, "The whole thing was beautiful...I felt like the Queen of Sheba when she saw the riches of Solomon, that 'half had not been told me.'" Unfortunately, Douglass soon discovered that the bank had been badly mismanaged, and the Panic of 1873 led to the failure of the bank. The building was demolished in 1899 and replaced with the Treasury Annex. The Annex was renamed the Freedman's Bank Building in 2016.