Lafayette Square Historic District, Washington, D.C.

The square was separated from the White House grounds in 1804, when third President Thomas Jefferson had Pennsylvania Avenue cut through east to west.

In 1824, it was officially renamed in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, the Frenchman who fought in the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783).

Lafayette Square has been used as a racetrack, a graveyard, a zoo, a slave market, an encampment for soldiers during the War of 1812, and many political protests and celebrations.

748 Jackson Place, at the north end of the block, is called the Decatur House; it is a prominent surviving design of Benjamin Henry Latrobe.

The urns were cast in a New York foundry at the orders of George M. Robeson, who was Secretary of the United States Navy at the time.

The urns were originally placed on granite bases in the center of two small flower beds to the east and west sides of the Andrew Jackson statue.