Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market in Boston: Facts You Need to Know

Those two have got to be the most fun places to visit when coming to Boston. Quincy Market has it all for the family. Spend hours watching the street performers, eating local food, and wandering around the shops. Faneuil Hall – is one of the most important historic landmarks in Boston. And along the Freedom Trail. I totally recommend you to visit those places, and that is important you know the history and facts of Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market in Boston.

Recommended Read: Dining in Boston MA

Quincy Market History in Boston

• Quincy Market was constructed in 1824–1826 and named in honor of Mayor Josiah Quincy, who organized its construction without any tax or debt.

• By the time Boston was incorporated as a city in 1822, downtown commercial demand grew beyond the capacity of Faneuil Hall. To provide an expansion of shop space, Quincy Market was built, as an indoor pavilion of vendor stalls.

• The new Faneuil Hall Marketplace, incorporating Quincy Market, opened in 1976.

• 1977 – The main Quincy Market building continues to be a source of food for Bostonians, though it has changed from grocery to food-stall, fast-food, and restaurants

• 12 million visitors visit the Georgian style 6.5 acres Faneuil Hall Marketplace each year looking for history and shopping bargains.

Faneuil Hall Facts 

• The Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which opened in September 1742, was designed over the course of two years by John Smibert

• Faneuil Hall is nicknamed the Cradle of Liberty, because pre-Revolutionary war meetings were held in its second-floor meeting rooms. The meeting room was first used in 1764.

• The Hall was used to detect spies during the American Revolution.  The weather vane on top was considered so well-known to Boston citizens that if a suspected spy was not able to tell his inquisitors that the weather vane was shaped like a grasshopper, the spy would be convicted.

• The Hall is host to many political events, including city council meetings and national announcements. Local politicians will frequently debate each other in the meeting room in the Hall.

• Now it is part of Boston National Historical Park and a well-known stop on the Freedom Trail.

• The Headquarters of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts has been in Faneuil Hall since 1746, currently on the 4th floor.

• In 2008, Faneuil Hall was rated number 4 on America’s 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites by Forbes Traveler

• The bell was repaired in 2007 by spraying the frozen clapper with WD-40 over the course of a week and attaching a rope. Prior to this repair, the last known ringing of the bell with its clapper was at the end of World War II, in 1945, though it had since been rung several times by striking with a mallet.