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Faneuil Hall Marketplace
Faneuil Hall in Boston,
Massachusetts is close to the waterfront and the Government Center;
and has been a meeting hall and marketplace since 1742. It was the
place where many famous men gave speeches about freedom and
independence from Great Britain that include Samuel Adams and James
Otis; and is today a part of the Boston National Historical Park and
grand stop on the Freedom Trail. It has been called the cradle of
liberty, but that is more locally and non-historical. The first hall
was constructed by John Smibert in the years 1740 to 1742, in the
marvelous old style of an English country market, with wide open
ground floor and assembly room located above. The construction was
funded by rich Boston merchant, Peter Faneuil, hence the name.
During its early days, it was where African sheep were kept, brought
here from the northwestern area of New Hampshire, although short
lived due to the shortage of sheep and the ill conceived ideas to
begin it. Sitting high atop the building, a grasshopper weathervane
sits and has become a well known symbol of the city. Knowing about
the grasshopper became a test for patriots and spies in the
revolution, if you knew what the object atop the hall was, then you
were a patriot and if not, a spy. It burned down in 1761, but
rebuilt the next year, and was largely expanded in 1806 by famous
architect, Charles Bulfinch, that doubled the height, width and
added a third floor. Also, four bays were added that brought that
number to 7, and the former open arcades closed; while the cupola
was moved to the other end. Bulfinch added Doric brick pilasters to
the two lower floors and ionic pilasters to the third. The
reconstruction brought in extra galleries around the assembly hall
and made it taller. In the last years of the 19th century, the
entire building was rebuilt with non-combustible materials so that
the fire that burned it down in the previous century would no longer
be a worry. In 1979, the ground floor and basement were changed and
the hall refurbished once more in 1992. It is a National Historic
Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The
hall has become part of a larger festival type of marketplace,
called Faneuil Hall Marketplace that also contains three long
granite buildings called North Market, Quincy Market and South
Market; and has become an indoor-outdoor mall and food
establishments. The entire complex is managed by the Rouse Company
and the wonderful success that it enjoyed in the 1970s encouraged
other cities to copy the idea. In 1979, it was the location of Teddy
Kennedy's speech saying he would run for President of the United
States, and in 2003, it was the site of John Kerry's concession
speech for the 2004 presidential election. It has become the
headquarters of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of
Massachusetts which was formed in 1638. The bell that hangs in the
tower was fixed in 2007 by spraying the frozen clapper with that
wonderful lubricant, WD-40, for a solid week and then attaching a
rope. Before this the last time the bell had been rung using its
clapper was at the finish of WWII, although there have been
instances where it was rung by using a mallet. Forbes Traveler
announced in 2008 that it was the number 4 place visited by
Americans in the top 25 most visited tourist sites in the nation.
The gilded grasshopper weathervane that sits on top of the hall was
made by silversmith Shem Drowne in 1742 and was gilded with gold
leaf over copper, weighs 80 pounds and is 4 feet long. The
magnificent weather vane is believed to have been modeled after the
one on to of the London Royal Exchange, based on the family crest of
Thomas Gresham. It was accidently shipped to the Wren Building at
the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and when 3
months had passed by, the designers of the building realized that
they had ordered a butterfly weather vane that was mistakenly sent
to Charlestown, South Carolina. Within 6 weeks, the weather vane was
atop its rightful place at Faneuil Hall, William and Mary had their
butterfly and Charlestown had an empty spot on top.
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