Old City Building
(Public Works Building)
15 N. 1st Avenue

* National Register of Historic Places

During late 1891, the arrival of electricty in St. Charles and the construction of a City Hall were the topics of great interest and debate. In January 1892, Charles Haines, a local businessman and former Mayor, presented the city of St. Charles with a parcel of land at Second and Main Streets. He gave the land on one condition--that a city hall be built upon it. Eventually, city officials and citizens decided that the land offered was not suitable for a building as important as the city hall. And so, in February 1892, Mayor Arthur A. Bennet received instructions to buy a 60' x 67' lot from Bela Hunt for $1,500. Bennet, who had just come into office in 1891, was a native of Vermont who came to St. Charles in 1886 to serve as general manager of the National Sugar Milk Company.

Although the city had been incorporated in 1874, city meetings had been held in rented buildings. Citizens desired a building of importance for city officials and the mayors. After purchasing the aforementioned plot from Bela Hunt, construction began on the building which was to serve as the center of municipal activity. F. W. Alexander built the building for $5,496. From 1931-33, during the height of the Great Depression, Mayor Ival G. Langum operated a soup kitchen for unemployed residents. The building remained the site of adminstrative business until the adjacent Municipal Builidng was finished in 1940. After this point in time, this Romanesque Revival building housed city offices, the fire department, circuit courts, the meter department, and maintainance equipment.

Citizens of the late 19th century also wanted to have access to electricity--especially electric light--a luxury that was most desirable on St. Charles' Streets, and in its homes and businesses. The possibility of electrical lights and of St. Charles providing its own electricity were questions that the city put to its citizens in late 1891. By January 1892, both questions had been settled: electricity would come to St. Charles and the city would provide it. The City Hall served as the base for the electric utility until 1924 when the city's capacity to generate the electricity had been reached. Buying energy from a private company became the only viable option. In the 1940s the city began purchasing electricity from Commonwealth Edison. Today, the city continues to buy electricity from Com Ed and to maintain the service with city employees.

Before this building reached its 100th birthday in 1992 it faced an uncertain future. Although the Old City Building has a rich history, city officials during the late 1970s began to mull over the possibility of razing the building rather than restoring it. By this point in time, the building was deteriorating. Thanks to the foresight of Historical Society members and the building's placement on the National Register of Historic Places, the Old City Building remains standing today. In 1996, the building was covered with foam inusulation and dryvit in order to preserve the bricks.

For additional photographs, see these sources, more fully described in the Bibliography.

Historic Houses Vertical Files
Celebrating History p 90

Also see...

Haines Residence
Municipal Building

Sources

• Beckstrom, Betty. Mayors of St. Charles. St. Charles: St. Charles Historical Society, 198?.
  
• "Building's Fate Still Uncertain." St. Charles Chronicle 13 Oct. 1976, 1.
  
• "A City Hall." Valley Chronicle 20 Jan. 1892.
  
• Davies, Tony. "New Faces Enter Old City Hall." St. Charles Chronicle 24 Oct. 1979, 1:3.
  
• "Electric Light Figures." Valley Chronicle 8 Jan. 1892.
  
• "The Election." Valley Chronicle 15 Jan. 1892.
  
• "First Factory Saw Mill Built on Site in 1836." Supplement to St. Charles Chronicle 29 Aug. 1940.
  
• Foreman, Gary L. City Lights: The First One Hundred Years of the St. Charles Electric Utility. St. Charles: St. Charles Electric Utility, 1992.
  
• Langerstrom, Edward and Leola Brown. History of St. Charles. 1936.
  
• "Mere Light." Valley Chronicle 25 Dec. 1891.
  
• "Notice of Special Election." Valley Chronicle 18 Dec. 1891.
  
• "Old City Hall's New Look Will Curb Deterioration." Kane County Chronicle 3 Apr. 1996.
  
• Pearson, Ruth Seen. "St. Charles Tries to Save Old City Hall." Daily Courier News 29 Aug. 1978.
  
• "Post Office, First City Hall in Hopper as New Museum Site." Charlemagne Gazette May 1979.
  
• St. Charles Chronicle 9 Jan. 1900.
  
• Valley Chronicle 5 Feb. 1892.
  
• "Western United Buys City Fire Barn." St. Charles Chronicle 14 Mar. 1935.