On this day, October 13, in 1932, President Herbert Hoover and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes laid the cornerstone for the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, DC.

From 1860 to 1935, the Supreme Court Justices were designated to conduct their work within the cramped space of the old Senate Chamber alongside other federal government employees. This environment discouraged the Supreme Court Justices from traveling to Washington, so they conducted most of their work from their homes.

Before the Supreme Court building was approved, Charles Evans Hughes, who had been an Associate Justice from 1910 to 1916, was vocally outspoken about the poor conditions of the justices’ working environment and described the Old Senate Chamber as small, overheated, and barren. Read more (Wikipedia)