Why Was Faneuil Hall Marketplace Built?
During the late 1730s, controversy raged over whether Boston should have a central marketplace or whether peddlers should continue to ply their goods from door to door, clogging the lanes with their pushcarts. Tempers erupted in 1737, when an angry mob disguised as clergymen burned down market buildings that the City of Boston had built. As a merchant and businessman, Faneuil believed that a central market would provide efficiencies and synergies conducive to the promotion of business. For the location of his vision, he settled on Dock Square, the harbor front area where farmers, merchants, fishmongers, shippers, and sundry others already congregated to do business, usually jostling for space. Haymarket, Boston’s oldest produce market, is just around the corner. After Boston painter John Smybert, best known for his portraits of local luminaries, drew up plans for a building designed to look like an English marketplace, Faneuil offered it as a gift to the city. Over 700 Boston Town Meet
