 Another large slave market, the Robey Slave Pen, was just a block away at the corner of 7th Street SW and Independence Avenue SW. On dark nights, witnesses say they have heard the clinking of chains and screams on Independence Avenue where these slave pens used to operate.The intersection of 7th Street NW and H Street NW is the heart of D.C.'s Chinatown neighborhood today, but prior to the 1930s it was populated primarily by German immigrants.Before the American Civil War, 7th Street NW was the city's primary commercial district, the street lined with three-story Federal-style townhouses with shops on the ground floor and residences above.