Old Town Hall

Old Town Hall was built in 1883 by Will Shirley (Haymarket Museum). The land on which the building sits was donated to the town of Haymarket by Thomas Smith, John Reid, and Eppa Hunton (Toler). The building originally served as both the town hall and a schoolhouse (Haymarket Museum). The school within Old Town Hall was the first school in the town of Haymarket (Toler).

Old Town Hall is the stand-out building on Washington Street. Its beautiful appearance would not be possible without the care and work that have been put into the building over the years. First, in 1931 the Haymarket Women’s club arranged for the grounds to be manicured and for repairs to the building (Having Its Face Lifted). Following this, in 1954, the building received what the newspapers were calling a “facelift” (Having Its Face Lifted). In this renovation, Old Town Hall was given a fresh coat of paint and a construction crew made some much-needed repairs (Having Its Face Lifted). These projects were miniscule though compared to the work that was done in 1984. In January of 1984, the ceiling of Old Town Hall collapsed (Schemmer). No one was injured in the event and Police Chief Donn Fasick said he believed that poor workmanship was responsible for the damage (Schemmer). On the incident Mayor at the time Muriel Gilbertson said, “It would have been ghastly if the thing had come down with a room full of people, what with all those metal parts, it’s quite a sight, one big mess. The whole ceiling is lying on the floor; you just can’t believe it” (Schemmer).

“Haymarket Museum.” Town of Haymarket Virginia, https://www.townofhaymarket.org/museum. 

“Old Town Hall in Haymarket Is Having Its Face Lifted.” The Journal Messenger, 15 July 1954. RELIC,

https://eservice.pwcgov.org/library/digitalLibrary/hsdw/H_Folder/HaymarketTownHall233-6/pdfs/HaymarketTownHall233-6NewsArtA.pdf. 

Schemmer, Clint. “Town Hall Ceiling Tumbles.” Potomac News, 24 Jan. 1984. RELIC,

https://eservice.pwcgov.org/library/digitalLibrary/hsdw/H_Folder/HaymarketTownHall233-6/pdfs/HaymarketTownHall233-6NewsArtB.pdf.