United States historic place in Boston, MA (opened 1743)
United States historic place
Faneuil Hall
(
or
; previously
) is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's
Government Center
, in
Boston
,
Massachusetts
. Opened in 1742,
[2]
it was the site of several speeches by
Samuel Adams
,
James Otis
, and others encouraging independence from
Great Britain
. It is now part of
Boston National Historical Park
and a well-known stop on the
Freedom Trail
. It is sometimes referred to as "the Cradle of Liberty,"
[3]
though the building and location have ties to slavery.
[4]
In 2008, Faneuil Hall was rated number 4 in "America's 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites" by
Forbes Traveler
.
[5]
History
[
edit
]
Eighteenth century
[
edit
]
After the project of erecting a public market house in Boston had been discussed for some years, colonial merchant and slave trader
Peter Faneuil
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,
[
clarify
]
[
citation needed
]
and although a vote of thanks was passed unanimously, his offer was accepted by a majority of only seven (367 to 360). Funded in part by profits from slave trading,
[6]
the building was begun in
Dock Square
in September of the same year.
[7]
It was built by artist
John Smibert
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.
[8]
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.
[7]
Nineteenth century
[
edit
]
In 1806, the hall was greatly expanded by
Charles Bulfinch
, doubling its height and width and adding a third floor. Four new bays were added, to make seven in all. The open
arcades
were enclosed, and the
cupola
was moved to the opposite end of the building. Bulfinch applied
Doric
brick
pilasters
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 meetings
until 1822.
[9]
Neighboring
Quincy Market
was constructed between 1824 and 1826.
Abolitionists
met at the hall in the 1830s and formed the Committee of Vigilance and Safety to "take all measures that they shall deem expedient to protect the colored people of this city in the enjoyment of their lives and liberties."
[10]
Faneuil Hall was entirely rebuilt of noncombustible materials in 1898?1899.
[
citation needed
]
Twentieth and twenty-first centuries
[
edit
]
On October 9, 1960, the building was designated a
National Historic Landmark
and added to the
National Register of Historic Places
following the passage of the
National Historic Preservation Act
of 1966, which placed all National Historic Landmarks in the National Register.
[11]
The ground floor and basement were altered in 1979. The Hall was restored again in 1992, and in 1994 the building was designated
[12]
a local
Boston Landmark
by the
Boston Landmarks Commission
.
The headquarters of the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts
is located on the fourth floor and includes an armory, library, offices, quartermaster department, commissary, and a military museum with free admission.
Faneuil Hall Marketplace
[
edit
]
Faneuil Hall is owned by the city of Boston, as is Quincy Market (commonly referred to as Faneuil Hall Marketplace), which includes three historic granite buildings?North Market,
Quincy Market
, and South Market?to the east of Faneuil Hall that operate as an indoor/outdoor mall and food eatery. The architect for the 1976 refurbishment and repositioning of Quincy Market was Benjamin Thompson and Associates 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.
Faneuil Hall is not part of the festival marketplace known as Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Rather it is owned by the City of Boston and managed by the National Park Service.
The North and South Markets buildings are currently under study for landmark status by the
Boston Landmarks Commission
.
Uses
[
edit
]
On Friday in early August 1890, one of the first black Republican legislators of Boston,
Julius Caesar Chappelle
, 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.
[13]
On November 7, 1979, Faneuil Hall was the site of Sen.
Edward M. Kennedy
's speech declaring his candidacy for president.
[14]
On November 3, 2004, Faneuil Hall was the site of
Senator
John Kerry
's concession speech in the
2004 presidential election
.
On April 11, 2006, Governor
Mitt Romney
signed Massachusetts' health care bill into law with a fife and drum band in Faneuil Hall before 300 ticketed guests.
[15]
On October 30, 2013, President
Barack Obama
delivered a defense of the
Affordable Care Act
from the same spot where Romney signed his state's expansion of healthcare in 2006.
[16]
On November 2, 2014, Boston Mayor
Thomas Menino
lay in state in Faneuil Hall following his death on October 30, 2014.
[17]
The headquarters of the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts
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
.
Name
[
edit
]
Faneuil
is a French name, and is anglicized as
or
(rhyming with
panel
or
Daniel
). During the colonial era, it may have been pronounced as in
funnel
. At Peter Faneuil's burial, only the Faneuil family crest was displayed on his headstone; its current inscription of "P. Funel" was added much later.
[
citation needed
]
In his 1825 novel
Lionel Lincoln
, James Fenimore Cooper used
eye dialect
for Bostonian characters to indicate that they pronounced it
Funnel Hall
.
[18]
Boston area locals often use the term
Faneuil
to refer to the entire surrounding neighborhood, particularly as a landmark for its vibrant nightlife.
[19]
In August 2017, amid heightened media coverage of the
removal of Confederate monuments and memorials
, the activist group New Democracy Coalition proposed that Faneuil Hall's name be changed because of Peter Faneuil's participation in the slave trade.
[20]
In response to the proposal, Boston mayor
Marty Walsh
stated: "We are not going to change the name of Faneuil Hall".
[21]
Additional name change protests have followed, including activists chaining themselves to the front door and a
sit-in
.
[22]
[23]
Building elements
[
edit
]
Bell
[
edit
]
After a sixty-two year hiatus, the hall's bell began ringing again in 2007 when a stuck clapper was freed and lubricated and new bellrope attached to the bell. Its last known ringing with its clapper had been at the end of
World War II
in 1945 (though it had been rung several times after that with a mallet).
[24]
Grasshopper weather vane
[
edit
]
The gilded grasshopper
weather vane
on top of the building was created by
Deacon Shem Drowne
in 1742. Gilded with gold leaf, it weighs 80 pounds (36 kg), is 4 feet (1.2 m) long,
[25]
and is believed to be modeled after that of the London
Royal Exchange
, itself based upon the family crest of
Thomas Gresham
.
[26]
[27]
Public art and landscape artwork
[
edit
]
The area between the eastern end of Faneuil Hall and Congress Street is part of Boston National Historical Park. In this landscape is a
nineteenth-century sculpture of Samuel Adams
[28]
created by sculptor
Anne Whitney
. The granite plaza surface is marked for 850 feet (260 m) 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.
[29]
Art within Faneuil Hall includes many paintings and sculpture busts of Revolutionary War activists, pre Civil War abolitionists, and political leaders.
[30]
Timeline of events
[
edit
]
- 1761 ? Hall burned down.
- 1762 ? Hall rebuilt.
- 1767 ? October 28: Petition to boycott imported goods signed.
[31]
- 1768 ? Faneuil Hall is briefly used to quarter the newly arrived 14th Regiment during the occupation of Boston.
- 1773 ? December 3: Meeting about
tea
lately arrived on the ship Eleanor; Capt. James Bruce, Samuel Adams, Jonathan Williams, and others present
[32]
- 1806 ? Building remodelled and expanded by Charles Bulfinch
- August 2, 1826 ?
Daniel Webster
eulogizes
John Adams
and
Thomas Jefferson
[33]
- July 11, 1831 ?
Timothy Fuller
speaks "at the request of the Suffolk Anti-Masonic Committee"
[34]
- September 6, 1834 ?
Edward Everett
eulogizes
Lafayette
[35]
- 1837
- 1839 ?
Peleg Sprague
stumps
for candidate
William Henry Harrison
[38]
- July 4, 1843 ?
Charles Francis Adams Sr.
speaks
[39]
- April 15, 1848 ? Edward Everett eulogizes
John Quincy Adams
[40]
- 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."
[41]
- April 18, 1863 ?
Andrew Jackson Hamilton
"of Texas" speaks "at the war meeting"
[42]
- January 9, 1865 ? Edward Everett speaks on "the relief of the
suffering people
of
Savannah
"
[43]
- June 7, 1876 ? Meeting "in favor of public parks;"
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
and others speak
[44]
- 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
"
[45]
- October 29, 1887 ?
Eben Norton Horsford
speaks on occasion of the unveiling of
Anne Whitney
's
Leif Ericson
statue (installed on
Commonwealth Ave.
)
[46]
- August 1890 ?
Julius Caesar Chappelle
, 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.
[47]
- June 15, 1898 ? James E. McCormick published a letter in the
Boston Evening Transcript
on June 2 which led to a June 15 meeting at Faneuil Hall, thus the founding of the
American Anti-Imperialist League
in opposition to the
Spanish?American War
as well the subsequent
Filipino-American War
. To note one of the league's more familiar names,
Mark Twain
served as vice-president from 1901 to his passing in 1910.
- 1903
- March 4 ?
Frederic J. Stimson
debates James F. Carey
[48]
- March 19 ? Protest "against the suppression of truth about the Philippines"
[49]
- May 1909 ? 32nd Grand Division (Order of Railroad Conductors)ORC Convention
- 1974 ? Weathervane stolen, then returned
[50]
- 1992 ? Building restored
- 2012 ? Lower level and first level completely renovated by Eastern General Contractors, Inc. of Springfield, MA
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
1789 engraving of Faneuil Hall
-
1839 engraving of Faneuil Hall
-
Survivors of the
SS
Atlantic
(1870)
wreck are given breakfast at Faneuil Hall, 1873 engraving
-
Faneuil Hall and
Congress St.
, 1973
-
Faneuil Hall (bottom left) during the construction of
Government Center
-
1981 view of Faneuil Hall from the steps of
Boston City Hall
-
The Great Hall
-
1798 eagle statue in the building's interior
-
The building's exterior in 2020
-
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Notes
- ^
"National Register Information System"
.
National Register of Historic Places
.
National Park Service
. January 23, 2007.
- ^
"The History of Faneuil Hall | Faneuil Hall Marketplace"
. 25 August 2017.
- ^
"Faneuil Hall Boston, The Cradle Of Liberty"
.
www.celebrateboston.com
. Retrieved
30 May
2018
.
- ^
"Unearthing Boston's Past ? The Daily Free Press"
.
dailyfreepress.com
. 5 October 2010
. Retrieved
30 May
2018
.
- ^
Baedeker, Rob (2008-05-05).
"America's 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites"
.
Forbes Traveler
. Archived from
the original
on 2009-08-31
. Retrieved
2008-05-14
.
- ^
"Was Faneuil Hall Built with Slave Money?"
. 13 March 2012
. Retrieved
30 May
2018
.
- ^
a
b
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Wilson, J. G.
;
Fiske, J.
, eds. (1900).
"Faneuil, Peter"
.
Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography
. New York: D. Appleton.
- ^
"Unearthing Boston?s Past ? The Daily Free Press"
.
dailyfreepress.com
. 5 October 2010
. Retrieved
30 May
2018
.
- ^
"Faneuil Hall History | Boston Freedom Trail History"
.
Boston Tea Party Ships
. 2019-09-20
. Retrieved
2021-11-01
.
- ^
"Faneuil Hall, the Underground Railroad, and the Boston Vigilance Committees (U.S. National Park Service)"
.
- ^
National Park Service (n.d.).
Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2012-11-04
. Retrieved
2010-12-06
– via nps.gov.
- ^
Boston Landmarks Commission.
Faneuil Hall
(PDF)
(Report). Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2017-12-28
. Retrieved
2017-12-27
.
- ^
"At the Cradle of Liberty",
The New York Age
, front page, Saturday August 9, 1890.
- ^
"PBS Carter Administration Timelilne"
.
PBS
. Archived from
the original
on 22 February 2017
. Retrieved
30 May
2018
.
- ^
Belluck, Pam; Zezima, Katie (April 13, 2006).
"Massachusetts Legislation on Insurance Becomes Law"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
"President Obama heading to Boston on Wednesday for health care speech"
.
The Boston Globe
. Archived from
the original
on August 25, 2018
. Retrieved
May 30,
2018
.
- ^
"Thousands say goodbye to Menino"
.
The Boston Globe
. Retrieved
May 30,
2018
.
- ^
Cooper, James Fenimore.
"Lionel Lincoln : or, The leaguer of Boston"
. New York : Lovell, Coryell
. Retrieved
30 May
2018
– via Internet Archive.
- ^
Zander, Amy (16 August 2016).
"Faneuil Hall: Everything you need to know"
.
Maverick Empire
. Retrieved
2 August
2018
.
- ^
Gere, Michelle (17 August 2017).
"Group calls for Faneuil Hall to be renamed"
. Retrieved
30 May
2018
.
- ^
"Marty Walsh has a confession to make"
.
The Boston Globe
. Retrieved
August 1,
2018
.
- ^
"Activists chain themselves to Faneuil Hall in protest of its slaveholding namesake"
.
www.wbur.org
. 19 October 2022
. Retrieved
2023-01-26
.
- ^
McDonald, Danny (12 January 2023).
"At City Hall, a sit-in to protest the name of a Boston landmark - The Boston Globe"
.
BostonGlobe.com
. Retrieved
2023-01-26
.
- ^
Viser, Matt (2007-05-04).
"It tolls for the city"
.
The Boston Globe
. Retrieved
2007-05-05
.
- ^
"Grasshopper Weather Vane on Faneuil Hall Is Stolen".
New York Times
. January 6, 1974. p. 54.
- ^
"Faneuil Hall Grasshopper"
. Celebrate Boston
. Retrieved
2008-12-27
.
- ^
Unsworth, Tania (February 26, 1996).
"Playing Tourist At Home"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
2008-12-27
.
- ^
"Samuel Adams Statue at Faneuil Hall Boston"
.
www.celebrateboston.com
. Retrieved
30 May
2018
.
- ^
"CultureNOW - A Once and Future Shoreline (orignal [sic] shoreline c. 1630): Ross Miller, Boston Art Commission and Boston Landmarks Commission"
.
culturenow.org
. Retrieved
30 May
2018
.
- ^
"Art in Faneuil Hall, Boston National Historical Park Brochure"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
30 May
2018
.
- ^
"Houghton Library Blog"
. Harvard University. 11 July 2013. Archived from
the original
on 8 November 2015
. Retrieved
13 May
2015
.
- ^
Snow. History of Boston. 1828; p.293-294
- ^
Daniel Webster.
A discourse in commemoration of the lives and services of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
, delivered in Faneuil Hall, Boston, August 2, 1826. Boston: Cummings, Hilliard, and Company, 1826
- ^
Timothy Fuller. An oration, delivered at Faneuil Hall, Boston, July 11, 1831: at the request of the Suffolk Anti-Masonic Committee. 1831
- ^
Edward Everett. Eulogy on Lafayette: delivered in Faneuil hall, at the request of the young men of Boston, September 6, 1834. Boston: N. Hale, 1834
- ^
The freedom speech of Wendell Phillips
: Faneuil Hall, December 8, 1837, with descriptive letters from eye witnesses. Boston: Wendell Phillips Hall Association, 1890
- ^
First Exhibition and Fair of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association
. 1837
- ^
Remarks of the Hon. Peleg Sprague at Faneuil Hall: before the citizens of Boston and its vicinity, upon the character and services of Gen. William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, the Whig candidate for the presidency of the United States. Boston: Whig Republican Assoc., 1839
- ^
Charles Francis Adams. An oration, delivered before the City Council and citizens of Boston, in Faneuil Hall, on the sixty-seventh anniversary of the Declaration of Independence: July 4th, 1843. Boston: J. H. Eastburn, City printer, 1843
- ^
Edward Everett. A eulogy on the life and character of John Quincy Adams: delivered at the request of the legislature of Massachusetts, in Faneuil hall, April 15, 1848. Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, state printers, 1848
- ^
Boston slave riot
, and trial of Anthony Burns: Containing the report of the Faneuil Hall meeting, the murder of Batchelder, Theodore Parker's Lesson for the day, speeches of counsel on both sides, corrected by themselves, a verbatim report of Judge Loring's decision, and detailed account of the embarkation. Boston:
Fetridge and Co.
, 1854
- ^
Speech of Gen. A. J. Hamilton, of Texas, at the war meeting at Faneuil hall, Saturday evening, April 18, 1863. Boston: Press of T. R. Marvin & son, 1863
- ^
Savannah and Boston: account of the supplies sent to Savannah; with the Last appeal of Edward Everett in Faneuil Hall; The letter to the mayor of Savannah; and, The proceedings of the citizens, and letter of the mayor of Savannah. Boston: J. Wilson, 1865
- ^
Parks for the people
: Proceedings of a public meeting held at Faneuil hall, June 7, 1876. Boston: Franklin press: Rand, Avery, & co., 1876
- ^
Proceedings of the indignation meeting held in Faneuil Hall, Thursday evening, August 1, 1878: to protest against the injury done to the freedom of the press by the conviction and imprisonment of Ezra H. Heywood. B.R. Tucker, 1878
- ^
Eben Norton Horsford. Discovery of America by Northmen: address at the unveiling of the statue of Leif Eriksen, delivered in Faneuil Hall, Oct. 29, 1887. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1888
- ^
"At the Cradle of Liberty,"
The New York Age
, front page, Saturday, August 9, 1890.
- ^
Socialism: a speech delivered in Faneuil hall, February 7th, 1903, by Frederic J. Stimson ... in joint debate with James F. Carey. Boston: The Old Corner Book Store, Inc., 1903
- ^
Mass meetings of protest against the suppression of truth about the Philippines
, Faneuil hall, Thursday, March 19, 1903.
- ^
"Grasshopper Weather Vane on Faneuil Hall Is Stolen".
New York Times
. January 6, 1974. p. 54.
Further reading
External links
[
edit
]
Preceded by
|
Locations along Boston's
Freedom Trail
Faneuil Hall
|
Succeeded by
|
Articles and topics related to Faneuil Hall
|
---|
|
---|
| Prominent individuals
|
- Macon Bolling Allen
(lawyer, judge)
- William G. Allen
(college professor)
- Crispus Attucks
(killed during
Boston Massacre
)
- Leonard Black
(minister, slave memoirist)
- John P. Coburn
(abolitionist, soldier)
- Ellen and William Craft
(slave memoirists, abolitionists)
- Rebecca Lee Crumpler
(physician)
- Lucy Lew Dalton
(abolitionist)
- Thomas Dalton
(abolitionist)
- Hosea Easton
(abolitionist, minister)
- Moses Grandy
(abolitionist, slave memoirist)
- Leonard Grimes
(abolitionist, minister)
- Primus Hall
(abolitionist, Rev. War soldier)
- Prince Hall
(freemason, abolitionist)
- Lewis Hayden
(abolitionist, politician)
- John T. Hilton
(abolitionist, author, businessman)
- Thomas James
(minister)
- Barzillai Lew
(Rev. War soldier)
- George Latimer
(escaped slave)
- Walker Lewis
(abolitionist)
- George Middleton (1735?1815)
(Rev. War soldier, Freemason, activist)
- Robert Morris
(lawyer, abolitionist, judge)
- William Cooper Nell
(abolitionist, writer)
- Susan Paul
(teacher, abolitionist, author)
- Thomas Paul
(minister)
- John Swett Rock
(dentist, doctor, lawyer, abolitionist)
- John Brown Russwurm
(college grad., teacher)
- John J. Smith
(abolitionist, politician)
- Maria W. Stewart
(abolitionist, public speaker, journalist)
- Baron Stow
(minister)
- Samuel Snowden
(minister, abolitionist)
- Edward G. Walker
(abolitionist, lawyer, politician, son of David Walker)
- David Walker
(abolitionist, father of Edward G. Walker)
- Phillis Wheatley
(poet, author)
|
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Relevant topics and
associated individuals
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Organizations
| Abolitionism
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Education
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Religion
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Other
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Historic sites
or neighborhoods
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Influential publications
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