McNair - Grant Hall Dedication

[Laurie Verge]

Modern Ft. McNair was once the home to the Washington Arsenal, and just outside the gates was the old penitentiary which became home to the conspirators. The only part of the penitentiary that still remains is Grant Hall (Quarters 20/Building 20) on whose third floor is the restored courtroom. Warehouse #1 is now a parking lot, but I think I'm correct in saying that someone standing at the front door of Grant Hall today could place the warehouse behind and to the right of the Hall.

The whole complex is on the waterfront in the southeast quadrant of the city. It is basically at the end of 4th Street, but there has been a lot of development around it. It is close to the south Capitol Street Bridge, the new Nationals' Stadium, and the Washington Navy Yard.

I once read about John Surratt's trial taking place in the D.C. Court building at the head of 4th Street and that the young man might have been able to look down the street in the distance and see the penitentiary grounds where his mother was still buried.

The Old Capitol Prison once stood where the Supreme Court of the United States now stands on Capitol Hill at First and A. Kinda ironic that a political prison dubbed the American Bastille once occupied the site in the 19th century and then was replaced by the highest court in the U.S.