On February 14, 1812, the General Assembly created a new capital city on the "High Banks opposite Franklinton at the Forks of the Scioto most known as Wolf's Ridge". Approximately a week later, after intense debate, the legislature selected Columbus as the name of the new town. in the following months the new town was surveyed and laid out in rectangular grid. The layout set aside two 10-acre parcels of land, one for a statehouse, at the location of the present day Statehouse, and the other parcel would become the site of the Ohio Penitentiary. Public sale of town lots for the new city began in June 1812. In 1816, the General Assembly met in Columbus for the first time in a brick building on the corner of High and State Streets.