Philadelphia's Inspiring Carpenters' Hall

As many times as we've been to America's most historic square mile in Philadelphia, we do not ever recall visiting Carpenters' Hall.
On Saturday, we didn't simply walk past this distinctive building once again. Instead, we went inside.
Carpenters' Hall hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774 and was home to Franklin's Library Company, The American Philosophical Society, and 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 to this wonderful Georgian building.
Set humbly back from Chestnut Street, the Hall has been continuously owned and operated by The Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, the oldest trade guild in America, since 1770. Today it is also part of Independence National Historical Park.
The Carpenters' Company and was established by the architects, engineers and builders who erected Independence Hall, Christ Church and Carpenters' Hall.
Some 150 men and women, all of them prominent architects, building contractors or structural engineers, carry on the 300-year tradition of the Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia — giving form to the future.
Benjamin Franklin frequently used Carpenters' Hall for both public and private meetings.
The Hall has a long history as an assembly place and has been the home to numerous tenants in the arts, sciences and commerce. 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.
Numerous dignitaries have visited Carpenters' Hall, including United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, President Václav Havel of the Czech Republic, President Guntis Ulmanis of Latvia, and Texas Governor (later U.S. President) George W. Bush with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge.
The structure still serves the purpose for which it was built: a meeting place for the Carpenters' Company.