The Quincy Mining Company platted Hancock in 1859, a decade after it began mining Keweenaw copper, and while many copper towns boomed and busted within a short period, Hancock remained stable and incorporated as a city in 1875. By 1897, its four thousand citizens wanted a government building that reflected the city’s prosperity and stature, and after the Quincy company sold this lot to the city in 1898, the Town Hall and Fire Hall opened in January 1899. Designed by the Marquette firm of Charlton, Gilbert and Demar and completed in 1899, the building housed city offices, the fire department, and the marshall’s office and jail. Built of Jacobsville sandstone with stepped and curved gables, it exhibits Richardsonian Romanesque, Dutch, and Flemish influences and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.