Carpenters' Historic Hall

Since its founding, Carpenters’ House has been the home to numerous tenants in the arts, sciences and commerce. The First Continental Congress of the United Colonies of North America met here from September 5 to October 26, 1774, where they resolved to ban further imports of slaves and to discontinue the slave trade within the colonies, a step toward phasing out slavery in British North America. The meeting hall served as a hospital for both British and American troops in the Revolutionary War, and other institutions in Philadelphia have held meetings in Carpenters' Hall, including Franklin's Library Company of Philadelphia, the American Philosophical Society, the First and Second Banks of the United States. Today, Carpenters' Hall is open to the public and welcomes over 150,000 world-wide visitors each year.