Once the bank building was built, the first floor was occupied by the bank while the second floor was occupied by City Hall, the Council Chamber, justice court, and law office of Judge R.P. Hill. The rear of the bank was occupied in the early days by Ed Durham as a barber shop.
The building had a brush with disaster in February 1903 when the Benson building on the south side caught on fire. The interior of the bank was destroyed when the two foot thick walls of the Benson building collapsed into the bank crushing the south side. It was all repaired, however, and life moved on.
The following paragraph is an article that appeared on Sept 2, 1915 in the Marion paper. Whether these plans ever transpired is unknown for sure except for the purchase of the building in October 1915.
“The fire committee from the city council met with other city officials to decide on the proposition of removing the fire department to the building recently purchased for a city hall. It was decided to make the change as soon as convenient. The corner room of the city hall on the ground floor facing Court Square will be remodeled to accommodate the fire department. The entrance will be widened and concrete floor put down on the same grade with the paving on the square. Sleeping quarters for the firemen will be in the east end of the building and stalls for the horses near the center of the room. The quarters that will be occupied by the fire department will be 55×26 feet for the present but later on will be enlarged. Ultimately the city will occupy the entire building. The room now occupied by the feed store will be used for the city court room. When the change is made the city officers will occupy the entire second story of the building except that portion reserved for sleeping quarters by the firemen. At the time the change is made an opening will be made through the second floor to the sleeping quarters so that the firemen can slide down a pole to the room below. “
Through time this building not only served as City Hall but also housed the Police Department on the North end of the building, while the downstairs served as the City Jail. Farmers Produce actually occupied a room at the rear butting up against the “hitchrack” lot as noted in the previous paragraph. Apparently, they remained in this location at least to Dec. 28, 1942, when a fire at the feed store again threatened City Hall.
In 1914, the Marion State and Savings Bank had completed their new building (now the Hotel State) and moved out. The building was purchased by the city in 1915 and the downstairs became available to City Hall and the water department. The upstairs became available through the 1940’s and 1950’s as a youth center. In the early 1960’s, a dedicated youth center was built near the city reservoir property on East Boulevard.
The next move for City Hall was the purchase of the W. T. Grant store building on the southeast side of the square which occurred in August of 1993. The building is two stories, with one floor being below ground level from the square, and occupies more than half the block giving the city government some room to breathe. The current City Hall currently houses most all of the relevant departments of City government including the Police Department and City Jail which is accessed from the rear of the building off of East Main Street. City government now maintains recordings of City Council meetings that are available to the public for viewing over the internet and a current City of Marion website listing all of the departments with their contact information.
In 2021, the First Southern Bank occupying the Bank of Marion building in the 300 block of Tower Square made an offer to sell the building and the entire block to the City of Marion. The purchase was completed on January 13, 2021 for a price of $460,000 with an agreement to lease the north side of the building for use as a branch office and drive through for the bank at a cost of $1,500 per month for 10 years.
Renovations to the building began in October 2021 under the architectural firm of White & Borgononi who strove to maintain the historic character of the building built in 1916 as the First National Bank. After two years of renovation and $4.2 million dollars, the building was finally renovated in the fall of 2023. Credit for the renovation was given to the architects, Smith-Hafeli Construction, Boyt Engineering, Fendrich Engineering and Brian Ziegler and Horner Shifrin Engineering for the project.
Although the building was actually in use by the end of September, 2023, the final touches were applied and a dedication ceremony was held on December 5, 2023 with Mayor Mike Absher cutting the ribbon and officially opening Marion’s third city hall to the public with a new address of 350 Tower Square. The old city hall building at 1105 Tower Square was to be repurposed as Route 51 Microbrewery.
Sam’s Notes: Note: The original City Hall building is referenced in Historical Architecture of Marion . The Marion Police Department built a new building on W. DeYoung in 2014 and moved out of the City Hall at 1105 Tower Square to occupy its own building.
(Photos from 1905 Souvenir Book, WCHS; Sesquicentennial history, Williamson County Historical Society, and Sam Lattuca; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 01/19/2013. Revised on 3/1/2024)