 Construction started on the site of Zaporizhian sloboda Polovytsia that had existed at least since 1740s.Here were the wintering estates of the Cossack officers Mykyta Korzh, Lazar Hloba, and others.The ceremonial laying the foundation of Yekaterinoslav as the centre of the Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty took place on 20 May 1787 on the hill where Zhovtneva Square is now.