Above the entrance a golden grasshopper catches the light, marking the hall where the arguments for American independence were first spoken aloud. Faneuil Hall was donated to the city in 1742 by Peter Faneuil, a Boston merchant whose wealth came partly from the slave trade — a fact that has made the building's name controversial in recent years. The ground floor served as a public market; the second floor meeting room became the primary public debate space of colonial Boston.
Here Samuel Adams, James Otis, and the Sons of Liberty argued against British taxation and the loss of colonial rights through the 1760s and 70s. Daniel Webster called it the Cradle of Liberty. The building was expanded by Charles Bulfinch in 1805 to its current size and has hosted public meetings ever since, including abolitionist rallies, women's suffrage debates, and political conventions.
The grasshopper weathervane on top, a symbol adopted from the Royal Exchange in London, has been a landmark since 1742 and has survived every storm and fire since. Quincy Market, the long granite market building behind Faneuil Hall, was built in 1826 and converted to a festival marketplace in 1976, one of the first such urban market renovations in the country.