The site was also known as the "Place by the Lonely Poplar" (). Its landmark was a solitary black poplar known as the "Lonely Poplar" (), which was standing on the parade ground near the corner of Topsstraße and Cantianstraße. The first demonstrations in Berlin during the revolution of 1848 took place at the site on 26 March 1848. Up to 20,000 people gathered near the Lonely Poplar in front of Schönhauser Tor to demand voting rights, a 12-hour work day, minimum wages and public, rather than private or religious, schools from Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV. The demonstration is today marked by a memorial stone on the site. The poplar was cut down in 1968. A tree descending from the old poplar, grown in a plantation in Dresden, surrounded by aspen trees now stands on its place.