Boxwood Hall, in Elizabeth, New Jersey

Elizabeth, New Jersey

Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...

, was the home from 1772 to 1795 of Elias Boudinot

Elias Boudinot

Elias Boudinot was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a U.S. Congressman for New Jersey...

, president of the Continental Congress

Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....

 and a signer of the Treaty of Paris

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...

 in 1783 ending the American Revolution

American Revolution

The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

. Boudinot and others met George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 here for a luncheon and then escorted him to Manhattan for his inauguration on April 30, 1789.

Boudinot sold it to Jonathan Dayton

Jonathan Dayton

Jonathan Dayton was an American politician from the U.S. state of New Jersey. He was the youngest person to sign the United States Constitution and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as the fourth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and later the U.S. Senate...

, a signer of the Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...

, who lived here until his death in 1824. In 1824, Dayton entertained Lafayette

Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...

 at this house.

In 2004, the house was at severe risk of damage.

The State of New Jersey operates the house as a historic house museum. The house is nearby the Belcher-Ogden Mansion-Price, Benjamin-Price-Brittan Houses District

Belcher-Ogden Mansion-Price, Benjamin-Price-Brittan Houses District

The Belcher-Ogden Mansion Benjamin Price-Price-Brittan Houses District is a historic district in Elizabeth, New Jersey that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986...

 and the Nathaniel Bonnel House.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Union County, New Jersey
• List of museums in New Jersey
• List of the oldest buildings in New Jersey

External links

• New Jersey Historic Sites - information about museum hours