The location of the Capitol was chosen by Pierre L'Enfant in his design for the District of Columbia. L'Enfant referred to the hill chosen as the site of the future Congress House as "Jenkins Hill" or "Jenkins Heights". However, the tract of land had for many years belonged to the Carroll family and was noted in their records of ownership as "New Troy". While it was rumored that a man named Jenkins had once pastured some livestock at the site of the Capitol (and thus his name was associated with the site), artist John Trumbull, who would paint several murals inside the Capitol's rotunda, reported in 1791 that the site was covered with a thick wood, making it an unlikely place for livestock to graze. Who Jenkins was and how his name became associated with the hill, as reported by L'Enfant, remains unclear.
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Record: 552-468
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