 In 1979, during the first year of Mayor Marion Barry's administration, the statue was removed from its perch on Pennsylvania Avenue and warehoused in city storage.It reappeared in the mid-1980s near an otherwise-obscure D.C. Public Works building on Shepherd Avenue, S.W., in the District's remote Blue Plains neighborhood.Near the beginning of the 21st century, Washington historian Nelson Rimensnyder started to argue for a restoration of Shepherd's reputation, calling him an "urban visionary" who singlehandedly transformed Washington into a major American city and championed aggressive social reform.