Recently my sister-in-law (the one who lives in Philadelphia, in case you were wondering) mailed me some postcards of historical places. Today I’m diving into one of them. It features the Old State House in Boston, Massachusetts.

The back of the postcard reads, “The Old State House was the seat of the King’s Colonial Government when it was completed in 1713. It is now an interesting museum and a part of the Boston National Historic Park.”

The Old State House website calls it, “The most important building in American history before the Revolution!”

Here are 10 things that make the Old State House stand out:

1. Oldest surviving public building in Boston.
2. Housed the government offices of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
3. Site of a 1761 speech by James Otis that helped lead to the American Revolution. ( “Then and there,” recalled John Adams, “the child Independence was born.”)
4. One of the first visitors galleries was installed in 1766, during the time of the colonial legislature.
5. Housed the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the oldest court in the nation.
6. The square to the east of the building was the site of the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770.
7. The Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from the balcony on July 18, 1776.
8. Served as the seat of the Massachusetts state government until 1798.
9. Functioned as Boston’s City Hall from 1830 to 1841.
10. Housed a museum of Boston’s history as early as 1881.

If you’d like to send me a postcard, don’t be shy -contact me here!