The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1923-01-06


BostOn.-Boston, the city of land
marks, has a hard struggle to pre-
serve them. Every once in while
some adventurous individual proposes
to divide Bunker Hill into building
lots, to roof over Bullfinch street for
q garage. to make recreation pier
Of the fish dock. or to melt down the
statue Of Paul Revere for nickels for
use in the subway. Such proposals Of
unpatriOtic vandalism are vigorously
resisted by the surviving old Boston
ians and are ultimately defeated, but
not until there has been contro-
versy with the vandals on one side
and the Boston ancients on the other.
The latest proposition-it is going
through all right, all rights to paint
and reroOf historic Faneuil Hall, de-
scribed by Wendell Phillips as ''the
cradle of liberty" and by Ralph Waldo
Emerson as 1.-The forum of freedom"
Peter Faneuil was of French de-
scent. He was merchant in Boston,
and he believed with Thomas Jeffer-
there is no freedom, where the voice
Of the patriot is muffled the hand of
the elector is shackled, and there is
no liberty in the land.
Entertaining these views, which
were those of men considered revO-
lutionists in his day-for the Ameri-
can colonies were then under the con-
troll of Engiand-Peter, Faneuil cher
ished the idea Of presenting to Boston
an appropriate meeting place where
the views of patriotic colonists could
be fearlessly expressed. With the high
sense of civic duty which has always
marked New England and is, in fact,
enc Of its chief titles to the reverent
tribute of all patriotic Americans, he
attended public meeting and offered
to build at his own expense a market
and to present 1t to Boston. There
were reactiOnaries and progressives
In that day as we'll as this, and the
Boston reactionaries protested against
what they called the public monOp-
oily" of a market which would drive
out of business" a number of small
dealers or hucksters who were dead
agin" the innovation, to use an old
New England phrase still current.
A vote of thanks was given Peter
Faneuil but his proposition to con-
tribute a market, at his own expense,
to Boston was adopted by majority
Of only seven votes. Whether encour-
aged by the vote of thanks, or adj
monished by the slender majority of
seven, Peter Faneuil enlarged his plan
Of a market and coupled with it the
idea of a meeting place, so the two
were built together.
Such was the origin of Faneul
Hall, years before the opening of the
Revolutionary war and more than a
century before the anti-slavery meet
ings which made the old building a
very pillar of forensic fire for those
who wished to see blotted out for
ever what John Wesley called chat
execrable sum of all villainies COM
monty called the slave trade
"The Hail."
tFaneuil Hall, which is in Faneuil
Hall square and which old Bostonians
stil describe as "the cradle of liberty"
is by all odds the most important
and historic public meeting place In
the United States. The first Faneuil
Hall was built in 1742 and was pri-
marily q market. The plan of a
second story" (there were no second
story men in those days) was an after
thought. When Boston accepted the
building. 1t was provided that 1t should
be called Faneul Hall forever" The
first Faneuil Hall was q structure only
100 feet long by 40 feet wide. 1t was
partially destroyed by fire in 1871.
only the walls remaining, but was re-
built in 1862, fifteen years before the
beginning of the Revolutionary war.
Part of the funds used in rebuilding
were raised by lottery.
The second building was formally
opened March IA, 1763, and it was the
patriot, James Otis, who dedicated
the hall, to "the cause Of liberty" in a
feryent speech. In F'aneuil Hall were
held all the town meetings and, in the
stirring days before the American
Revolution, the patriot orators of that
time were heard in "old Faneuil"-
though II was not very old then. The
building which was only about half
the size of the present one, was two
stories high and so remained until
1905. Then, under the direction Of
the architect Bulfnch. it was enlarged
and improved Its width was increased
to 80 feet; third story was added |;
the "hall'' was made 78 feet square
and % feet high; galleries resting on
Doric columns were put in and a
large platform was built for the ora
tors, for distinguished citizens and
for members Of committees.