What L’Enfant intended for the spot that became the Center Market was a grand fountain. ADThis was Center Market, the first iteration of which debuted in 1802. ADTo the west was Western Market, the first iteration of which opened a few years after Center Market near 20th and H streets NW. Only Eastern Market — designed, like Center Market, by Adolf Cluss and completed in 1873 — remains. And among the African American vendors at Center Market after the Civil War were some who had once been enslaved.

Source: Washington Post July 18, 2020 19:27 UTC