Between the late 17th century and the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the area played a major role in the history of slavery in the United States,[4] serving as the second-largest domestic slave trade site in the country, second to New Orleans.

[6] Nearby, located at 15th and E Broad St., is the Shockoe Bottom African Burial Ground,[7][8][9] long used as a commercial parking lot, most recently by Virginia Commonwealth University, a state institution.

It was reclaimed in 2011 after a decade-long community organizing campaign, and today it is a memorial park, though part of the burial ground lies beneath Interstate Highway 95.

On the eve of the fall of Richmond to the Union Army in April 1865, evacuating Confederate forces were ordered to set fire to the city's tobacco warehouses.

[3] Architecturally, many of the buildings were constructed during the rebuilding following the Evacuation Fire of 1865, especially in a commercial variant of the Italianate style, including a 1909 fountain, dedicated to "one who loved animals.