West Salem City Hall reflected a late-1800s municipal trend to house many civic functions under one roof. Its ground level contained the fire station, jail, and council chambers, while the second floor held a public auditorium, or opera house. Designed by native son William K. Shilling, who later became an internationally prominent architect, the Romanesque-style building was completed in 1899 at a cost of $9,077 and soon became the center of civic life in West Salem. In the opera house during its heyday before World War II, the community held band concerts, vaudeville shows, town meetings, and graduation ceremonies. During the Cold War, it was designated as a Civil Defense emergency field hospital, and it remains a focal point of the West Salem community.