On April 1, 1912, Belding’s citizens voted to issue a $15,000 bond to build a new city hall after the city jail had been housed in an old barn and the dilapidated building rented as a firehouse had been called a “burning shame.” Prosperous from the silk industry, the growing city dedicated the new Classical Revival brick and sandstone building on Decoration Day in 1913, consolidating local services in a modern structure designed by the Grand Rapids architectural firm Osgood and Osgood. It also hosted numerous social and civic functions, including those of local Civil War veterans organized in Dan S. Root Post 126 of the Grand Army of the Republic. After Belding’s downtown had been rebuilt following a devastating 1893 fire, with brick-paved streets lined by service, retail, and entertainment storefronts, urban renewal between 1970 and 1972 razed most of downtown and all but one block of Main Street, about sixty buildings, for parking and a modern shopping plaza. The building was one of the few historic downtown structures to survive, though its interior was remodeled in the early 1970s and a fire department annex was added on the east side in 1973. With fine interior details including white oak trim and pressed-tin wall and ceiling panels, it remains Belding’s most visible testament to the community’s past.