Prior to the Civil War, enslaved people were kept in a pen on this corner while awaiting sale at auction at the county courthouse. Before the fire of 1878, the courthouse stood on the north side of Franklin Street between 1st and 2nd. Enslavers also sold many enslaved people at the Market House in the middle of the Public Square. In 1860, enslaved people made up almost half of Montgomery County's population, and Clarksville's tobacco industry especially profited from enslaved labor.