Federal Hall

About

Federal Hall was the first capitol building of the United States established under the Constitution. Serving as the meeting place of the First United States Congress and the site of George Washington's first presidential inauguration, the building was located on Wall Street facing the northern end of Broad Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, from 1703 to 1812. The site is occupied by the Federal Hall National Memorial, a Greek Revival–style building completed in 1842 as the New York Custom House. The National Park Service now operates the building as a national memorial commemorating the historic events that occurred at Federal Hall.

The original structure on the site was built from 1699 to 1703 as New York's second city hall. The building hosted the 1765 Stamp Act Congress, before the American Revolution. After the United States became an independent nation, it served as the meeting place for the Congress of the Confederation, the nation's first central government under the Articles of Confederation, from 1785 to 1789, and the building was expanded and updated. With the establishment of the United States federal government in 1789, it hosted the 1st Congress and the inauguration of George Washington as the nation's first president. In addition to other seminal legislation, the 1st Congress adopted the plan to create Washington, D.C. as the national capital, and to move to Philadelphia in the meantime. After congress left in 1790, the old hall was demolished in 1812.