Government Buildings
The Town Hall, a two-story building with an Opera House on the second floor,was the center for government and business. The Opera House served as a place for local plays and other programs and a place for traveling stock companies to do their business of purchasing and selling cattle and horses.
The town hall contract was awarded to William Grant for $2000 in 1887, and the building was erected on the southeast corner of Church and Court, facing the Gail Hotel.
In 1903, the City approved the purchase of three hose carts outfitted with hundreds of feet of 2 ½ hose for fighting fires, which was housed in the old City Hall.
In 1908, the Dallas free library association was granted use of the fireman’s room in city hall for a library and a reading room.
In 1912, Andrew Carnegie was awarded construction of the library for $10,000 and the city hall was moved around the corner to a location on Church street behind the new library.
In 1936, a new City Hall was dedicated on its present site of Court and Jefferson streets. The construction cost was $45,000. Forty percent of this money was a Public Works Administration Grant. Members of the building committee were Mayor Leif S. Finseth, and councilmen Maurice Dalton, C.B. Sundberg, and William C. Retzer.
Add Picture of new city hall