Faneuil Hall ( or ; previously ) is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by

Samuel Adams Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, an ...

, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. It is now part of

Boston National Historical Park The Boston National Historical Park is an association of sites that showcase Boston's role in the American Revolution and other parts of history. It was designated a national park on October 1, 1974. Seven of the eight sites are connected by the ...

and a well-known stop on the

Freedom Trail The Freedom Trail is a path through Boston, Massachusetts, that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. Marked largely with brick, it winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston through the North End to the Bu ...

. It is sometimes referred to as "the Cradle of Liberty", though the building and location have ties to slavery. In 2008, Faneuil Hall was rated number 4 in "America's 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites" by ''Forbes Traveler''.

History

18th century

After the project of erecting a public market house in Boston had been discussed for some years, slave merchant

Peter Faneuil Peter Faneuil (June 20, 1700March 3, 1743) was a wealthy American colonial merchant, slave trader and philanthropist who donated Faneuil Hall to Boston. Childhood The eldest child of one of three Huguenot brothers who fled France with considera ...

offered, at a public meeting in 1740, to build a suitable edifice at his own cost as a gift to the town. There was a strong opposition to market houses, and although a vote of thanks was passed unanimously, his offer was accepted by a majority of only seven. Funded in part by profits from slave trading, the building was begun in Dock Square in September of the same year. It was built by artist

John Smibert John Smibert (rarely spelled Smybert; ; 24 March 1688 – 2 April 1751) was a Scottish-born painter, regarded as the first academically trained artist to live and work regularly in British America. Career Born in Edinburgh on 24 March 1688, Smi ...

in 1740–1742 in the style of an English country market, with an open ground floor serving as the market house, and an assembly room above. According to Sean Hennessey, a National Park Service spokesman, some of Boston's early slave auctions took place near Faneuil Hall. In 1761, the hall was destroyed by fire, with nothing but the brick walls remaining. It was rebuilt by the town in 1762. In 1775, during the British occupation of Boston, it was used for a theatre. Faneuilhall104

19th century

In 1806, the hall was greatly expanded by

Charles Bulfinch Charles Bulfinch (August 8, 1763 – April 15, 1844) was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first American-born professional architect to practice.Baltzell, Edward Digby. ''Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia''. Tra ...

, doubling its height and width and adding a third floor. Four new bays were added, to make seven in all; the open

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

s were enclosed, and the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

was moved to the opposite end of the building. Bulfinch applied

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

brick

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s to the lower two floors, with Ionic pilasters on the third floor. This renovation added galleries around the assembly hall and increased its height. Faneuil Hall was used for

town meeting Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...

s until 1822. Neighboring

Quincy Market Quincy Market is a historic building near Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was constructed between 1824 and 1826 and named in honor of mayor Josiah Quincy, who organized its construction without any tax or debt. The market is ...

was constructed in 1824–1826. Faneuil Hall was entirely rebuilt of noncombustible materials in 1898–1899.

20th and 21st centuries

On October 9, 1960, the building was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

following the passage of the

National Historic Preservation Act The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA; Public Law 89-665; 54 U.S.C. 300101 ''et seq.'') is legislation intended to preserve historic and archaeological sites in the United States of America. The act created the National Register of Historic ...

of 1966, which placed all National Historic Landmarks in the National Register. The ground floor and basement were altered in 1979. The Hall was restored again in 1992, and in 1994 the building was designated a local

Boston Landmark A Boston Landmark is a designation by the Boston Landmarks Commission for historic buildings and sites throughout the city of Boston based on the grounds that it has historical, social, cultural, architectural or aesthetic significance to New Engla ...

by the

Boston Landmarks Commission The Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) is the historic preservation agency for the City of Boston. The commission was created by state legislation i1975 History Urban renewal in the United States started with the Housing Act of 1949, part of Presid ...

. The headquarters of the

Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts is the oldest chartered military organization in North America and the third oldest chartered military organization in the world. Its charter was granted in March 1638 by the Great and Gen ...

is located on the fourth floor and includes an armory, library, offices, quartermaster department, commissary, and a military museum with free admission. Faneuil Hall LOC 4a30408u

Faneuil Hall Marketplace

Faneuil Hall is one of four historic buildings in a

festival marketplace A festival marketplace is a European-style shopping market in the United States. It is an effort to revitalize downtown areas in major US cities begun in the late 20th century. Festival marketplaces were a leading downtown revitalization strategy ...

, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which includes three historic granite buildings called North Market,

, and South Market adjacent to the east of Faneuil Hall, and which operates as an indoor/outdoor mall and food eatery. It was designed by

Benjamin Thompson and Associates Benjamin C. Thompson (July 3, 1918 – August 17, 2002) was an American architect. He was one of eight architects who founded The Architects' Collaborative (TAC) in 1945 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the most notable firms in post-w ...

and managed by the Rouse Company; its success in the late 1970s led to the emergence of similar marketplaces in other U.S. cities. It has since come under the ownership of the Ashkenazy Corp. According to Ashkenazy, Faneuil Hall Marketplace had 18 million visitors in 2016. The North and South Markets buildings are currently under study for landmark status by the

Uses

On Friday in early August 1890, one of the first black Republican legislators of Boston,

Julius Caesar Chappelle Julius Caesar Chappelle ( – January 27, 1904) was an American Republican Party politician who was born into slavery in South Carolina and served in the Massachusetts General Court. He was a leading figure of Boston's black community from 1870 u ...

, made a speech "At the Cradle of Liberty" in support of the Federal Elections bill that would help give Black people the right to vote. Chappelle was a Boston legislator from 1883 to 1886. The Faneuil Hall event was covered by the media in the United States, and the speech by Chappelle appeared in an August 9, 1890, article, "At the Cradle of Liberty, Enthusiastic Endorsement of the Elections Bill, Faneuil Hall again Filled with Liberty Loving Bostonians to Urge a Free Ballot and Fare Count..." on the front page of ''The New York Age'' newspaper on Saturday, August 9, 1890. On November 7, 1979, Faneuil Hall was the site of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's speech declaring his candidacy for president. On November 3, 2004, Faneuil Hall was the site of Senator

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

's concession speech in the 2004 presidential election. On April 11, 2006, Governor Mitt Romney signed Massachusetts' healthcare bill into law with a fife and drum band in Faneuil Hall before 300 ticketed guests. On October 30, 2013, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

delivered a defense of the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

from the same spot where Romney signed his state's expansion of healthcare in 2006. On November 2, 2014, Boston Mayor

Thomas Menino Thomas Michael Menino (December 27, 1942 – October 30, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 53rd mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three ...

lay in state at Faneuil Hall following his death on October 30, 2014. The headquarters of the

has been in Faneuil Hall since 1746, currently on the 4th floor. It is also still used for political debates between Massachusetts candidates as well as political shows, such as ''

The O'Reilly Factor ''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...

''.

Name

''Faneuil'' is a French name, and is anglicized as or . In Colonial times, it may have been pronounced as in ''funnel''. Peter Faneuil's gravestone is marked "P. Funel." However, the inscription was added long after his burial; the stone originally displayed only the Faneuil family crest, not his surname. In his 1825 novel '' Lionel Lincoln'', James Fenimore Cooper used eye dialect for Bostonian characters to indicate that they pronounced it ''Funnel Hall''. Boston area locals often use the term ''Faneuil'' to refer to the entire surrounding neighborhood, particularly as a landmark for its vibrant nightlife. In August 2017, amid heightened media coverage of the

removal of Confederate monuments and memorials More than 100 monuments and memorials to the Confederate States of America (CSA; the Confederacy) and associated figures have been removed, all but five since 2015. Some have been removed by state and local governments; others have been torn do ...

, the activist group New Democracy Coalition proposed that Faneuil Hall's name be changed because of Peter Faneuil's participation in the slave trade. In response to the proposal, Boston mayor

Marty Walsh Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...

stated: "We are not going to change the name of Faneuil Hall".

Building elements

Bell

The bell was repaired in 2007 by spraying the frozen clapper with

WD-40 WD-40 is an American brand and the trademark of a penetrating oil manufactured by the WD-40 Company based in San Diego, California. The formula for WD-40 was invented for the Rocket Chemical Company as early as 1953 before it evolved into ...

over the course of a week and attaching a rope. Prior to this repair, the last known ringing of the bell with its clapper was at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in 1945, though it had since been rung several times by striking with a mallet.

Grasshopper weather vane

The gilded grasshopper

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

on top of the building was created by Deacon Shem Drowne in 1742. Gilded with gold leaf, the copper weather vane weighs and is long. The weather vane is believed to be modeled after the grasshopper weather vane on the London Royal Exchange, based upon the family crest of

Thomas Gresham Sir Thomas Gresham the Elder (; c. 151921 November 1579), was an English merchant and financier who acted on behalf of King Edward VI (1547–1553) and Edward's half-sisters, queens Mary I (1553–1558) and Elizabeth I (1558–1603). In 1565 G ...

Public art and landscape artwork

The area between the eastern end of Faneuil Hall and Congress Street is part of Boston National Historical Park. In this landscape is a 19th-century sculpture of Samuel Adams created by sculptor

Anne Whitney Anne Whitney (September 2, 1821 – January 23, 1915) was an American sculptor and poet. She made full-length and bust sculptures of prominent political and historical figures, and her works are in major museums in the United States. She received ...

. The granite plaza surface is marked for with the approximate location of the early Colonial shoreline c. 1630. The street layout and building plot plan designations from an 1820 map are shown by etched dashed lines and changes from pink granite to grey granite paving slabs. The shoreline marking artwork entitled, '' A Once and Future Shoreline,'' is made with etched silhouettes of seaweed, sea grass, fish, shells and other materials found along a high tide line. Art within Faneuil Hall includes many paintings and sculpture busts of Revolutionary War activists, pre Civil War abolitionists, and political leaders.

Timeline of events

*1761 – Hall burned down. * 1762 – Hall rebuilt. * 1767 – October 28: Petition to boycott imported goods signed. * 1768 – Faneuil Hall is briefly used to quarter the newly arrived 14th Regiment during the occupation of Boston. * 1773 – December 3: Meeting about

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

lately arrived on the ship Eleanor; Capt. James Bruce, Samuel Adams, Jonathan Williams, and others present * 1806 – Building remodelled and expanded by Charles Bulfinch * August 2, 1826 –

Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison ...

eulogizes

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

and

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

* July 11, 1831 –

Timothy Fuller Timothy Fuller (July 11, 1778 – October 1, 1835) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. Life and work Fuller was born in Chilmark, Massachusetts. His father, also named Timothy, the first settled minister of Princeton, Massachusetts, ...

speaks "at the request of the Suffolk Anti-Masonic Committee" * September 6, 1834 –

Edward Everett Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Mass ...

eulogizes

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

* 1837 **

Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whi ...

speaks ** 1st Exhibition and Fair of the

Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (est.1795) of Boston, Massachusetts, was "formed for the sole purposes of promoting the mechanic arts and extending the practice of benevolence." Founders included Paul Revere, Jonathan Hunnewell, a ...

* 1839 – Peleg Sprague stumps for candidate

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

* July 4, 1843 –

Charles Francis Adams Sr. Charles Francis Adams Sr. (August 18, 1807 – November 21, 1886) was an American historical editor, writer, politician, and diplomat. As United States Minister to the United Kingdom during the American Civil War, Adams was crucial to Union effort ...

speaks * April 15, 1848 – Edward Everett eulogizes

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States S ...

* May 26, 1854 – After arrest of Anthony Burns, public meeting "to secure justice for a man claimed as a slave by a Virginia kidnapper, and imprisoned in Boston Court House, in defiance of the laws of Massachusetts." * April 18, 1863 –

Andrew Jackson Hamilton Andrew Jackson Hamilton (January 28, 1815 – April 11, 1875) was an American politician during the third quarter of the 19th century. He was a lawyer, state representative, military governor of Texas, as well as the 11th Governor of Texas during ...

"of Texas" speaks "at the war meeting" * January 9, 1865 – Edward Everett speaks on "the relief of the suffering people of

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

" * June 7, 1876 – Meeting "in favor of public parks;"

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (; August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the fireside poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most fa ...

and others speak * August 1, 1878 – "Indignation meeting ... to protest against the injury done to the freedom of the press by the conviction and imprisonment of Ezra H. Heywood" * October 29, 1887 –

Eben Norton Horsford Eben Norton Horsford (27 July 1818 – 1 January 1893) was an American scientist who taught agricultural chemistry in the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard from 1847 to 1863. Later he was known for his reformulation of baking powder, his int ...

speaks on occasion of the unveiling of

Leif Ericson Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental Nort ...

statue (installed on Commonwealth Ave.) * August 1890 –

, Republican legislator of Boston, MA (1883–1886), one of the first black legislators in the United States, makes a speech (endorsing the Federal Elections bill that would help give blacks the right to vote) that was printed in ''The New York Age'' newspaper's front-page article, "At the Cradle of Liberty" on August 9, 1890. * June 15, 1898 – James E. McCormick published a letter in the ''

Boston Evening Transcript The ''Boston Evening Transcript'' was a daily afternoon newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts, published from July 24, 1830, to April 30, 1941. Beginnings ''The Transcript'' was founded in 1830 by Henry Dutton and James Wentworth of the firm of D ...

'' on June 2 which led to a June 15 meeting at Faneuil Hall, thus the founding of the

American Anti-Imperialist League The American Anti-Imperialist League was an organization established on June 15, 1898, to battle the American annexation of the Philippines as an insular area. The anti-imperialists opposed forced expansion, believing that imperialism violated t ...

in opposition to the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

as well the subsequent

Filipino-American War Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New ...

. To note one of the league's more familiar names,

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

served as vice-president from 1901 to his passing in 1910. * 1903 ** March 4 – Frederic J. Stimson debates James F. Carey ** March 19 – Protest "against the suppression of truth about the Philippines" * May 1909 – 32nd Grand Division (Order of Railroad Conductors)ORC Convention * 1974 – Weathervane stolen, then returned"Grasshopper Weather Vane on Faneuil Hall Is Stolen". ''New York Times''. January 6, 1974. p. 54. * 1992 – Building restored * 2012 – Lower Level and First Level completely renovated by Eastern General Contractors, Inc. of Springfield, MA

Gallery

File:Faneuil Hall, Boston, 1789 - NARA - 535907.jpg, 1789 engraving of Faneuil Hall File:Faneuil Hall, Boston, 1839.png, 1839 engraving of Faneuil Hall File:Faneuil Hall in May 1973 - Boston MA.jpg, Faneuil Hall and Congress St., 1973 File:Aerial view of Government Center construction, 1960s.jpg, Faneuil Hall (bottom left) during the construction of Government Center File:1981 BostonCityHall byLebovich11 HABS MA1176.jpg, 1981 view of Faneuil Hall from the steps of

Boston City Hall Boston City Hall is the seat of city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council. The current hall was built in 1968 to assume the functions of the Old City Hall. It is a con ...

File:Interior of Faneuil Hall 01.jpg, The Great Hall File:Heraldic eagle, Faneuil Hall, Boston.jpg, 1798 eagle statue in the building's interior File:Faneuil Hall May 2020.jpg, The building's exterior in 2020

References

Notes Further reading * Abram English Brown (1901
''Faneuil hall and Faneuil Hall Market: or, Peter Faneuil and His Gift''
Boston: Lee and Shepard. * Burgon, John William (1839) ''Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham''. London: Robert Jennings

External links

Faneuil Hall Marketplace

Faneuil Hall
(

City of Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

)
Faneuil Hall
(

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

)
(Official website of the Freedom Trail)

(

)
Boston Classical Orchestra

Historic American Buildings Survey
Library of Congress. Includes 1937 photos.
SAH Archipedia Building EntryFaneuil Hall Study Report
{{Authority control Boston National Historical Park Commercial buildings in Boston Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Charles Bulfinch buildings Commercial buildings completed in 1762 Market houses National Historic Landmarks in Boston Shopping malls in Massachusetts 1743 establishments in Massachusetts Landmarks in Boston National Register of Historic Places in Boston Government Center, Boston Georgian architecture