Ren's did You Know ? - Ontario's First City Hall

After incorporation in 1891, the city did not have funds available to build or rent a city hall. Council meetings were held in the rear of D.T. Jones store. In 1906, the basement of the newly built Carnegie libr...ary was used for city hall offices. The Ontario Country Club was constructed in 1903, on the northeast corner of Euclid Avenue and Emporia Street, the former site of the Southern Pacific Hotel. The mission-revival style building was made of brick and concrete, and included a ball room on the upper floor and a bowling alley in the basement. The club closed its doors in 1909 offering the building to the city for $10,000. The city raised the money with the sale of bonds and the building was acquired the following year.

This first city hall building was 7,000 square feet but quickly became crowded as the city continued to grow. The city applied for and received $90,000 WPA (Works Progress Administration) funds to build a new city hall on the same site. Work began in 1936 and the new 18,200 square-foot municipal building was completed in 1937. With the exception of the fire department, the new building housed all city departments including the police department, jail, and council chamber. It served as city hall until 1979 with the building of a new civic center on B Street. The vacant city hall building became the city museum that same year.

The canon displayed on the corner of the grounds of the first city hall was historic and dated back to the Spanish American War. Containing approximately two tons of metal, the canon was turned over to the U.S. Army in 1942 to be melted and made into bullets to assist in the war effort.