Place des États-Unis

The Place des États-Unis began its life with a different name, the Place de Bitche, intended to honor a French town that resisted Prussian forces during the war of eighteen seventy. That name fell out of favor after the American ambassador, Levi P. Morton, moved his residence and the United States embassy into the square in eighteen eighty-one. The similarity between the name of the French town and a common English profanity made the American diplomats uncomfortable, leading officials to rename the space in honor of the United States.