Faneuil Hall - Boston, MA - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

In addition to being a meeting place and marketplace, Fanueil Hall also housed an artillery company. Wikipedia (visit link) informs us:

"Faneuil Hall ... located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. It was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain. Now it is 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".

The Hall's own website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faneuil_Hall adds:

"Faneuil Hall has served as a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. Funding was provided by a wealthy merchant, Peter Faneuil, for the construction and local artisan to create the grasshopper weather vane that still perches on the building's cupola. Inspirational speeches by Samuel Adams and other patriots were given at Faneuil Hall. These oratories became the footstool for America's desire to obtain independence from the British.

Faneuil Hall was expanded in 1806 by Charles Bulfinch. When Boston became a city the use of Faneuil Hall as a government meeting place came to an end, but it was still regularly used. Today, the first floor is still used as a lively marketplace and the second floor is a meeting hall where many Boston City debates are held. The fourth floor is maintained by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company."

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Faneuil informs us:

"Peter Faneuil (June 20, 1700 – March 3, 1743) was a wealthy American colonial merchant, slave trader, and philanthropist who donated Faneuil Hall to Boston. Peter Faneuil was born on June 20, 1700 in New Rochelle, New York to Benjamin Faneuil and Anne Bureau. Having emigrated to America about a decade earlier and become freemen of Massachusetts Bay in 1691, Peter's father, Benjamin, and his uncle, Andrew, had subsequently been early settlers of New Rochelle. Shortly thereafter, Andrew made Boston his permanent residence. Benjamin married Anne Bureau in 1699 and they had at least two sons and three daughters who lived to maturity...Faneuil died in Boston of dropsy in 1743, being interred in the Granary Burying Ground."

"Most noteworthy was Faneuil's gift to the town of Boston of Faneuil Hall, which opened in September 1742, scarcely six months before his death. In July 1740 Faneuil had offered the town a large market building. This offer was by no means uncontroversial: Bostonians had debated throughout the eighteenth century whether a centralized market was preferable to the conveniences, such as home delivery, and inconveniences, including noisy push-cart hucksters and higher prices, of peddling in the streets. Markets built by the town had been destroyed by a mob disguised as clergymen in 1737. Only by a vote of 367 to 360 did the Boston Town Meeting accept Faneuil's offer. The building took two years to construct and was named for Faneuil after his death. It was gutted by fire in March 1761; the walls remained, but the interior structure, to which the town meeting frequently adjourned to protest British policy as the American Revolution approached, was added after the fire. The room above the market stalls became a civic center where so many prerevolutionary meetings were held that Faneuil Hall became known as America's "Cradle of Liberty." Faneuil Hall still stands, although it is dwarfed by the Quincy Market complex built behind it in the nineteenth century."

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