LOWER MANHATTAN, New York (WABC) -- With the latest presidential inauguration set to take place in Washington on Monday, Eyewitness News takes a look at where the first one took place: the heart of New York City, more than two centuries ago.
Walk into Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan, and it's like stepping back in time.
Inside it, National Park Ranger Ryan Ventura says is the actual stone where George Washington stood to take the oath of office to become president of the United States back on April 30, 1789.
The first presidential inauguration of George Washington was a very exciting day in New York City.
"George Washington was staying at his home in New York City called the Franklin House and he was taken down to Federal Hall in the mid-afternoon," Ventura said.
Ventura said the parts of his address, "so help me god," and "I will protect and defend the constitution to the best of my ability," were added out of Washington's own personal beliefs.
He said Washington had originally tabbed the first inaugural address for 70 pages, but he was told it couldn't be that long.
"He got it shortened, and it became a 15-to-20-minute speech," Ventura said.
At 26 Wall St. is where Washington's statue marks the spot.
"It's overlooked a lot that New York City was the first capitol, and that George Washington actually became president on Wall Street," Ventura said.
It's now a museum. An average of 300 daily visitors can see replicas of Federal Hall from the 1700's.
"On the right, you see a little bit of the bible that he's swearing in on," Ventura said.
Washington stood on the second-floor balcony. In fact, they have an actual piece of the balcony's iron railing from 1789.
In the 1800's, Federal Hall was replaced with its current Greek structure.
Ventura says that at one point, the building held 70% of the country's gold.
"This building was a sub treasury from 1862 to 1920," he said.
If you walk by these days, scaffolding hugs the building. Engineers are examining the aging facade around a site that helped write the first chapter of America.
"It brings a lot of pride for me because it shows that New York City was the center of the universe for every little aspect of the country's history at some point," Ventura said.
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