The area east of the Anacostia River remained mostly farms and forest with few roads. The area was served primarily by the Navy Yard Bridge, constructed in 1820. The first residential development in the area was Uniontown (now the neighborhood of Anacostia), begun in 1854. The following year, the federal government constructed the Government Hospital for the Insane (later known as St. Elizabeths Hospital). To serve the hospital, Asylum Avenue was constructed from the Navy Yard Bridge to the new hospital and then, running on the east side of a line of hills, down to the District–Maryland line. Additional construction in the area occurred during the American Civil War (1861–1865). The United States Department of War constructed the George Washington Young cavalry magazine on of land on Giesborough Point. Two forts, Fort Carroll and Fort Greble, were constructed on the bluffs that began just west and adjacent to Asylum Road. After the war, the Barry Farm housing development for freed slaves opened in 1867 and was rapidly occupied. Aslyum Avenue was named Nichols Avenue in 1879 in honor of hospital superintendent Charles Henry Nichols.