Faneuil Hall was built by artist John Smibert in 1742 in the style of an English country market, with an open ground floor and an assembly room. The hall burned down in 1761 but was rebuilt in 1762.
A circle of stones marks the site where on the evening of March 5, 1770, British soldiers fired on a mob of American colonists, killing five of them.
Just outside the building, five men were among the first casualties in the Boston Massacre. The Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from the balcony in 1776.
