With an antique brick facade set among downtown skyscrapers, any passerby can pick this building out as a relic from an earlier time. Now a museum run by The Bostonian Society, the site has a long and distinguished history. The Boston Massacre, one of the catalysts for the American Revolution, took place just outside. The Declaration of Independence was first read to Boston here on July 18, 1776. The structure served as the new state's capitol until 1797.