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Owen Sound City Hall |
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In the late 1860s, a brick Town Hall was built at the corner area of Poulett Street and Union Street. Its architect was ______________. Its construction began in 1868, and into 1869. It opened on ______, 18__. J. P. Coulson, who had Coulson's British Hotel across the street, was financially involved with the project. The building had a faux clock painted on its first tower. The unchanging time sometimes confused visitors. The rear end of the building had an area that was used as a farmer's market. An image in a booklet, "A Souvenir of Owen Sound Canada" (printed by The Grip Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd. of Toronto for Miss S. F. Conlin) has the caption "Town Hall and Market". Farmers would bring their wagons to town and sometimes would sell from the wagons (e.g. cord wood). In 1904, there was a Grand Poster Show held at the Town Hall, to raise monies for the Owen Sound General & Marine Hospital. A souvenir booklet was produced for the Grand Poster Show. In 1909, the Owen Sound street addressing changed and the Town Hall's address became ____________. During the First World War, the Town Hall area was often the locale of military inspections, and there was a banquet held there for returning veterans. There was an upstairs area that could be used as a banquet hall or dance hall (ballroom). Some renovations occurred in 1919? The former town achieved City status on _________. A brick clock tower and Westminster Chime tower clock were added to the City Hall building in 192_. The building burned on February 23/24, 1961. "Although the dedication of firefighters, police, city staff and some bystanders retrieved most of the city records and documents, the City Hall itself was burned beyond repair, and damage was set to $500,000" (Christie). The remains of the building were torn down. A new City Hall building had its construction start in 1965. It officially opened on ________, 196_. In 2016, the City Hall building is being renovated. - - - - - -There are various archival images of the building in the Grey County Archives, as well as Fire Insurance Map books that show the building. -Christie, John, SIRENS ACROSS THE SOUND: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE OWEN SOUND FIRE DEPARTMENT, 2006, pp. 70-71. -Cecil Whalen was Fire Chief, and the fire is documented in THE OWEN SOUND SUN TIMES front page article of Feb. 24, 1961: "City Hall Destroyed: $500,000 Fire Races Through 92-Year-Old Hall, Vaults Hold Fate of Records." The fire occurred on a Friday morning. |
