I always wonder about the stories some of the vintage buildings I see on my travels could tell, but all too often, I have too little time to explore as much as I would like and find out more about the stories behind the facades.
This was the case when I spotted this building on a rainy morning as we headed out of town in Grand Rapids, Ohio.
This Town Hall building serves as the venue for city council meetings, as well as a variety of musical and theatrical events throughout the year.
Built in 1898 to house government offices, jail facilities and an opera house, it stands at the west end of this northern Ohio town's business district on Front Street.
The Town Hall reportedly gained a reputation as one of the finest theater facilities in the area, and it obviously is well-regarded as a building because it earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
A plaque on the building told me that Charles F. Patton built it, and the sign listed the local officials in office at the time of the building's construction.
The building wasn't open, and no one was around on the morning that I saw it, so I tried satisfying my curiosity about the old Town Hall by looking around online.
I got a little excited when I found a listing for Patton and Miller, a Chicago architecture firm famous for designing a lot of public buildings (including a number of Carnegie libraries) around the same time that as this structure, but that Patton wasn't Charles.
It's something I certainly want to check out when I get back down to Grand Rapids, Ohio, and I'd like to see the interior of the building.
Meanwhile, do any of my readers know anything more about the building and its history?
© Dominique King 2015 All rights reserved
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