Old State House (Boston)
Encyclopedia : O : OL : OLD : Old State House (Boston)
The Old State House is a historic building located at the intersection of Washington and State Streets in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Built in 1713, it is the oldest surviving public building in Boston.
The original building housed a Merchant's Exchange on the first floor and warehouses in the basement. On the second floor, the east side contained the Council Chamber of the Royal Governor while the west end of the second floor contained chambers for the Courts of Suffolk County and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The central portion contained the chambers for the elected Massachusetts Assembly. This chamber is notable for including public galleries, the first known example of such a feature being included in a chamber for elected officials.
In 1761, James Otis argued against the Writs of Assistance in the Royal Council Chamber. Though losing the case, Otis's speech was one of the events which led to the American Revolution. During this period, a Stamp Act Congress was formed in the Massachusetts Assembly chamber. On July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from the east side balcony to jubilant crowds.
After the American Revolution, the building served as the seat of the Massachusetts state government before its move to the present Massachusetts State House in 1798. From 1830 to 1841, the building was Boston's city hall before being converted to commercial use. In 1881, after threats of the building's being dismantled and moved to Chicago, Illinois, the Old State House was restored to its original exterior appearance.
Today, the Old State House sits atop the State Street stop on the MBTA's Blue and Orange subway lines. Located on the Freedom Trail, the building houses a museum and is the home of [The Bostonian Society].
Also located on the Freedom Trail is a cobblestone ring on the traffic island in front of the east side of the Old State House. This cobblestone ring marks the site where five colonists were killed by the British on March 5, 1770, in the event that became known as The Boston Massacre. The colonists killed were Crispus Attucks, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, Samuel Gray, and Patrick Carr.
On July 11, 1976, as part of her Boston visit to celebrate the bicentenary of the United States of America, Queen Elizabeth II toured the Old State House and was shown a sample of original tea from the Boston Tea Party of 1773. She appeared on the historic balcony with Prince Philip and delivered an address to a large audience which included the Mayor of Boston and Governor of Massachusetts. She said, in part, "If Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and other patriots could have known that one day a British monarch would stand on the balcony of the Old State House, from which the Declaration of Independence was first read to the people of Boston, and be greeted in such kind and generous words, well I think they would have been extremely surprised! But perhaps they would also have been pleased to know that eventually we came together again as free peoples and friends to defend together the very ideals for which the American Revolution was fought." The Queen presented a gift of an eagle to the Bostonian Society, which operates the Old State House on behalf of the National Park Service. The Queen also attended a service at Old North Church, had lunch at Boston City Hall, and visited USS Constitution before sailing out of the city on the Royal Yacht HMY Britannia.
The Replicas
There are two replicas of the Old State House in Massachusetts. One is the Weymouth Town Hall, located on Middle Street in Weymouth, about a half mile from the birthplace of Abigail Adams. The other is the State House residence hall on the campus of Curry College in Milton, just outside Boston.See also
References
- [Old State House History. The Bostonian Society]. May 16, 2005.
- Boston Celebrates July '76, Boston 200 Office of the Boston Bicentennial, Kevin H. White, Mayor. Published Boston, MA: Addison House, 1976. ISBN 0-89169-011-5 (paperback) and 0-89169-010-7 (cloth).
External links
- [Maps and aerial photos]
- * Street map from [Google Maps] or [Yahoo! Maps]
- * Topographic map from [TopoZone]
- * Aerial image or topographic map from [TerraServer-USA]
- * Satellite image from [Google Maps] or [Microsoft Virtual Earth]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.