Throughout North Carolina’s rich history, Fayetteville has been both a political and economic leader. Citizens of this early settlement were very active during the Revolutionary War. During the colonial period, Fayetteville established itself as the center of a major eastern North Carolina trade center because of its accessibility to the navigable Cape Fear River.
    In 1788, Fayetteville was considered for the site of the state capital. The second State Convention of 1789 was held at the State House in Fayetteville, site of the current Market House. There, delegates ratified the U.S. Constitution; chartered the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest state university; and ceded North Carolina’s western lands to what is now the state of Tennessee. Fayetteville eventually lost its bid to become the state capital.
    Fayetteville continued to grow and prosper through the first quarter of the nineteenth century, until the devastating fire of 1831 which destroyed more than 600 homes and business, including the State House. In relative proportions, the fire was more devastating than the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Fayetteville almost immediately began to rebuild, to include building the Market House on the site of the former State House. The Market House was completed in about 1838 and was so named because vendors sold produce and meats under its Moorish arches. ...next page