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The writs permit customs officials to search for contraband goods without probable cause. Otis makes a four-hour speech in the Council Chamber of the Town House, defending the rights of citizens. The interior of the Town House is rebuilt and the iconic lion and unicorn statues are installed. In 1761, in part of what is known as Paxton’s Case, the Old State House was the scene of James Otis Junior’s famous speech against Writs of Assistance, British warrants which conferred wide search powers on their beneficiaries. Otis’s speech failed to extinguish these writs, but did add to the increasing dissatisfaction which eventually led to the American Revolution.
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In July of 1776, the Declaration of Independence was reading to the city from the second story balcony. A lion and unicorn (symbols of Royal authority) that graced the edifice of the building were torn down and burned by the patriots. Operated by Revolutionary Spaces, Old State House served as the seat of colonial and state governments of Massachusetts. Visitors can learn more about early colonial and revolutionary history and enter rooms where history happened.
Managed by Revolutionary Spaces
The incident began with local boys taunting a British sentry on a cold March night. Mobs of laborers, sailors, and others of "the lower sort" joined into the confrontation. A detachment of seven soldiers under command of a Captain eventually emerged on the scene to rescue the beleaguered sentry. When they crossed the square to reach him, the crowd formed around them and the captain had the men draw into a small perimeter, muskets loaded. The Old State House is today a popular tourist destination and still operated as a museum by a group called Revolutionary Spaces.
Period of commercial use 1841–1881
Don't forget to sit in the Royal Governor's chair inside the newly restored King's Council Chamber and experience what it was like to be the most powerful person in Colonial America. Both Otis and Adams, as well as Adams' cousin Samuel and merchant John Hancock, served as representatives in the Massachusetts provincial legislature. Samuel Adams and James Otis proved to be among some of the most notorious members, arguing for measures which increasingly created friction with the royal governor and his supporters. Dive into the history of the events that took place within and outside this building's wall by visiting the Old State House, stewarded by Revolutionary Spaces. The next stop on Freedom Trail is the site of the Boston Massacre, located on a busy street in front of the museum and commemorated by a cobblestone ring on the plaza in front of the Old State House. The museum offers an array of programming and exhibitions, some tied to the Boston Massacre.
Built in 1713, this historic landmark served as the seat of colonial and state governments as well as a merchants’ exchange. After 1798 and the completion of the current Massachusetts State House, the Old State House housed commercial space and offices, at one point housed City Hall, and today a museum to Boston's history. The second floor served as the seat of colonial and later state government throughout the 1700s. The royal governor, appointed by the King of Great Britain, held his office in the building until 1775, and from the balcony he gave voice to the King 3,000 miles removed from London. The governor's stature as surrogate for the crown was underscored by his elevated position upon the balcony which overlooked King Street.
The Boston Massacre
Upon the right and left of the balcony, a lion and unicorn—royal symbols of the King of Great Britain—graced the main façade facing the public square. From this balcony, Bostonians listened to royal proclamations, but here they also heard for the first time the Declaration of Independence, which announced the birth of a new nation. The state government continued to use Old State House until 1798 when they moved to the New State House on Beacon Hill (where the Massachusetts government still meets to this day).
In 1830, Isaiah Rogers alters the building's interior in a Greek Revival style, most notably adding the spiral staircase that remains today. The election of John Hancock as the first governor of the new state of Massachusetts is announced from the balcony. Today, standing amid the skyscrapers of downtown Boston, the Old State House tells the story of Boston’s role in the American Revolution and its connection to the American struggle to create and sustain a free society. Operated by Revolutionary Spaces and owned by the City of Boston, the Old State House is a designated a National Historic Landmark, a Boston Landmark, and a site within the Boston National Historical Park on the Freedom Trail. Discover a host of historical sites linked to the American Revolutionary War, from the Freedom Trail to Yorktown Battlefield and more. If travelling via public transport, the nearest stations to Old State House are State Street (Orange/Blue Line), Government Center (Green Line) and Downtown Crossing (Red Line).
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It remains an important symbol of Boston’s colonial history and is a stop on the Freedom Trail, a 2.5 mile trail which connects multiple Revolutionary War sites in Boston together. While the building was saved, the area around the State House was quickly built up. Today the Old State House, once the most prominent building in the area, is dwarfed by numerous skyscrapers and modern buildings and surrounded by busy streets. In 1904, a subway station was placed in the basement of the building, and it continues to be used by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (popularly known as “the T”) to this very day. During this time, the spiral staircase is removed and the interior remodeled several times, while the exterior becomes covered in advertisements and signs.
The Old State House in Boston played an important role in the American Revolution and is now one of the sites included in the Freedom Trail, a tourist trail made up of sixteen sites relating to the American Revolution against the British. After the American Revolution, the building served as the seat of the Massachusetts state government until 1798, when it moved to the Massachusetts State House.
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Through Massacre, Revolution, and fire, the Old State House stands as the oldest surviving public building in Boston. Built in 1713, the building served as the center of civic, political, and business life. But perhaps they would also have been pleased to know that eventually we came together again as free peoples and friends to defend together the very ideals for which the American Revolution was fought. The iconic lion and unicorn statues atop the east parapets of the Old State House are repaired. The Declaration of Independence is read by Colonel Thomas Crafts for the first time in Boston from the balcony of the Old State House. The brick Town House is built in 1713, replacing the previous wooden Town House, which had burned in a fire in 1711.
The Old State House was originally completed in 1713 and served the multiple functions of being a merchant’s hall and the seat of the colonial government. However, a fire in 1747 meant that it had to be rebuilt to a great extent in 1748 and further restoration and changes were made to the Old State House in 1830. In the cacophony of taunts, screams, and church bells ringing, one of the soldiers was struck. Most of the other soldiers opened fired in response, thinking an order had been given. The captain never gave an order, but as the balls flew through the street, men fell dead and wounded. The first bloodshed of the Revolution fell on to the ice and snow in front of the Old State House.
Experience Revolutionary Boston at the Old State House Museum and Boston Massacre Historic Site. Historically, the Old State House was the political, economic, and geographic center of the Massachusetts Bay colony since it was built in 1713, though a structure devoted to government has stood on its site since the mid 17th century. Because of the very ideals of self-government first expressed within the building, The Old State House has played host to the most influential minds that helped shaped the world as we know it today. On a cold March night in 1770, a beleaguered squadron of British soldiers opened fire in the square in front of this royal building, killing five individuals and wounding many others. By the next morning, leaders called the event a "bloody massacre." Six years later, shots were heard again in the square.
Revolutionary Spaces brings people together to explore the American struggle to create and sustain a free society, singularly evoked by Boston’s Old South Meeting House and Old State House. We steward these buildings as gathering spaces for the open exchange of ideas and the continuing practice of democracy, inspiring all who believe in the power of people to govern themselves. The copper lion and unicorn statues rendered by coppersmith, Moses H. Gulesian are installed. A confrontation between British soldiers and Bostonians takes place in the square in front of the Town House, leaving five people dead and many more wounded. This deadly event came to be known as the “Boston Massacre.” It was some of the first bloodshed in the years before the Revolution and marked a dramatic escalation in the disputes between the British and colonists. James Otis argues against the Writs of Assistance before the Superior Court, marking the first major protest against British laws.
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