Federal Hall

You are on Wall Street, named after the palisade the Dutch built in 1653 to protect New Amsterdam on its northern side. In front of you is a Greek temple with Doric columns; behind you, the facade of the New York Stock Exchange.

1The first City Hall

Around 1700 the city built its City Hall on this site. In 1735 it hosted the trial of the printer John Peter Zenger, whose acquittal is remembered as a milestone for freedom of the press, and in 1765 the Stamp Act Congress met here to protest British taxes.

2Capital for a year

After independence, New York became the nation's first capital. The architect Pierre L'Enfant, who would later plan Washington, D.C., remodeled the building and renamed it Federal Hall. On April 30, 1789, on the balcony overlooking this street, George Washington took the oath as the first president before a crowd. That same year, the Congress meeting here proposed the Bill of Rights.

The bronze Washington in front of you stands close to where that balcony once was.

The capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790, and the old building was torn down in 1812. The present one, finished in 1842 to a design by Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis, served as the Custom House and later as a federal Sub-Treasury. Today it is a National Park Service memorial.

3What to look for

• The statue of Washington by John Quincy Adams Ward, put in place in 1883.
• The Doric columns, inspired by the Parthenon.
• The New York Stock Exchange, across Broad Street.