“Federal Hall National Memorial, ca. 1975.

The Federal Hall National Memorial commemorates historic events at the former Federal Hall, which occupied the same site until 1812. The original building, completed in 1703 as New York’s second City Hall, became a meeting place for colonial delegates prior to the Revolutionary War, and later for representatives of the nascent American government in the First United States Congress.

Federal Hall became the first Capitol of the United States in 1789, when the Constitution came into force. Under the first Congress, Federal Hall was the site of Washington’s Inauguration and the proposal of the Constitutional amendments that today make up the Bill of Rights.

After Congress moved to Philadelphia in 1790, New York’s City government operations returned to Federal Hall until a new City Hall building was completed in 1812. The building was razed thereafter.

The current temple-front Greek Revival marble structure was designed by John Frazee and completed in 1842.