Cultural Landmarks of Hamilton-Wentworth

Dundas Town Hall

Location:  64 Main Street, Dundas, Ontario

In June, 1848, not long after Dundas had actually been founded as a town, the Town Council discussed the idea of building a town hall. Various locations for the building were suggested, but eventually they decided upon "Hay Scale Square" at the corner of Main and Hatt Streets. A petition in favour of this location had been signed by 190 inhabitants of the town, and the plot had been offered as a gift by Benjamin and Samuel Overfield, who lived across the road on Main Street. The District Council recommended that the Town Council accept this offer, especially since the Overfields' also promised to purchase and donate the adjacent lots owned by Thomas Racey, Martin Stonehouse and Jacob Walton, provided they did not cost more than 200 pounds. Council accepted the offer and began planning for the construction which would soon follow.

On July 25, 1848, the Council accepted the town hall plans drawn up by Francis R. Hawkins, owner of the planing mill on Hatt Street, west of McMurray Street. On August 2, 1848, the Council opened four tenders for the construction of the town hall. They finally accepted the tender of James Scott, which was 1,870 pounds plus 45 pounds for some extras.

Construction of the hall was completed rather quickly and the council chamber was ready to be occupied for the first time on July 16, 1849. A description of the town hall is as follows:

"The town offices were on the first floor with an entrance on the Main Street side, and with eight wide stone steps leading up to the front door. The upstairs was one huge room that had a stage at one end and a gallery at the other and it served as an opera house, ball room, and debating rostrum, and for political meetings, amateur theatricals, traveling shows, and lectures. The basement was used for butchers' stalls, and farmer's stands on each side of a long corridor which ran from an entrance door at the south end to one at the north end. Also in the basement, and reached by a door in the east wall was the jail and Alfie Bennett's Crystal Palace Saloon. The proximity of these was very handy for the policemen -- he had to drag drunks only a few feet. It was also handy for the Councilors who could adjourn to the basement for refreshments when all went smoothly, or could be tossed into the cells to cool off in case of a fist fight, a not too uncommon occurrence." From The History of the Town of Dundas, Part Three of a Series.

The town hall was surrounded by a broad plank walk with an adjacent ditch. This ditch was used when farmers would come to town, so that they could back their wagons into the ditch and the citizens could see what was in the wagons more easily.

A great clock with four faces, now claimed to be the oldest such clock erected in Upper Canada, was installed in the attic of the town hall.

The first butcher to work in the town hall basement was James Reid, who butchered in Dundas from 1849 to about 1902. Old Pomp, the first escaped slave to arrive in Dundas via the "underground railway" from the United States earned his living by sawing wood, white washing, ringing the town bell, and as a Town Crier. Eventually, he donated all of his savings, $40.00, to the construction of the town hall with its jail in the basement. Not long after it was built, however, he achieved the doubtful distinction of being the jail's first occupant -- for fighting.

The town hall served Dundas quite well and required only general maintenance until the period between 1941 and 1946, when $37, 000 was spent on major renovations. These renovations included the addition of the south front stairwell to the building. The town hall was then re-dedicated to the service of God and to the citizens of Dundas.

In June of 1947, the town of Dundas celebrated its centennial year. By this time, one of the town hall clock's weights had dropped, causing slight damage to the ceiling of the council chamber. Originally, the weights had gone down as far as the basement, which meant that the clock would only have to be wound once a week, but because of the renovations, the weights were shortened and winding the clock twice a week was now necessary. At one point, the clock actually stopped working completely. Although attempts were made to repair it, workers could never quite get all four sides of the clock to keep the same time.

In 1966, deterioration had become evident in the town hall, and it was condemned by the office of the Ontario fire marshal. A $5,200 study was recommended, to look into issues regarding the condition of the building and what could be done about it.

By April of 1968, a special committee had met with engineers to discuss whether or not the hall was suitable to fulfill the functions required of it. They examined the town hall to determine whether or not re-modeling could be justified, and to estimate the cost of revamping the existing building. The committee was also authorized to look into the construction of a new building, either on the same site or on a new site and to draw up estimates.

A few months later, $285, 000 was approved for the renovation of the old town hall, which would include the addition of a new building. However, this cost did not take into account any professional services or new furniture, which would also be necessary. The final total was estimated at $350,000. This was met with some objection, most notably from Councillor Elsie Hunt, who was strongly against spending that much money on the town hall.

Because of the objection put forth in regard to the $350,000 estimate, a new one was given. Unfortunately, it turned out to be even higher than the previous one. Now, architects were suggesting that the new building and renovations would cost at least $350, 800, and up to as much as $406, 863. Discussion immediately opened on the topic of whether or not this new estimate was a little too expensive for the town to cover. Dundas Mayor Hugh Everett was in favour of going ahead with the plans for the hall even though it was at a cost of $350,000. The matter was taken to the Ontario Municipal Board for approval on August 5, 1969, after a price tag of $350,000 was given approval by Council. The Ontario Municipal Board recommended that Dundas re-advertise the project, including the new cost, so that citizens would have a chance to object to it, if they desired. The re-advertising would prove to have little immediate consequence. However, the Ontario Municipal Board was forced to turn down the town's request on September 18, 1969, due to the fact that if the renovations were done according to the plans, they would violate off-street parking, side yard width and lot coverage. This temporarily put the renovation discussions on hold and gave time for a commemorative plaque to be unveiled on the site of the town hall by Mayor H. M. Everett in May of 1970.

Soon after the unveiling of the plaque, debate once again turned to the renovation. The Dundas Heritage Association was strongly urging Council not to build a new building on the site of the 120-year-old hall, as it would destroy the "architectural integrity" of the building. The new building, if added, would cover a great portion of the existing hall's north wall, which many citizens did not want to happen. A telephone poll was conducted to see what the citizens really thought, and the results indicated 82% of them were against the proposed plans for the addition of the building to the north side of the hall and for the renovations inside the old building.

In March, 1971, not long after the telephone poll was conducted, a new group formed within the town of Dundas, calling themselves the Citizens Committee to Stop the Town Hall. They claimed to have emerged to fight against what they felt was an unnecessary expenditure. The group was interested in seeing how many citizens were against the proposed plans for the town hall, so they purchased advertising space in the town's two weekly newspapers as well as The Spectator, and asking downtown storeowners to post a petition for shoppers to sign. Despite the committee's effort, the Council decided to go ahead with the plans to add a new building and renovate the existing one after modifying their original plans so that they were no longer in violation of city codes.

The first step in the renovation had been to determine whether or not the building was structurally sound. It was determined to be in very good shape, with a dry basement, no settlement of the foundation and an excellent roof and set of interior walls. Previously, the town hall had been rather primitive in terms of the poor working environment. There were dark corridors, the lighting was not very good and the heating system was not adequate. Now, the building was equipped with an elaborate heating and air conditioning system with hidden duct-work and ventilators. The basement and first floor of the old building were entirely reconstructed. The second-floor auditorium was also re-done, in the style of a mid-19th century public hall with new hard-wood floors and walls. These repairs were completed at a total cost (including furniture) of $490,000.

The second official opening of the Dundas town hall was held on July 3, 1972. Around this time, the town hall clock was worked on once again, and this time it was properly repaired, so that all four faces matched and it worked just as it had when it was originally installed, before 1880.

Since its second re-opening, little has changed in the town hall. In October, 1981, a proposal was put forth for the town hall to be made accessible for the handicapped. This plan called for a hydraulic elevator as well as washroom facilities especially designed for handicapped use. The total cost was originally estimated to be over $70,000, however Councilors decided to further investigate. When they did, they discovered that the total cost would actually be in the excess of $112,000, which they felt was simply too expensive for the town to afford, thus the proposal was dropped.

In October, 1995, the town hall was given a new paint job. The sandy beige colour, painters said, was likely chosen to resemble the original colour of the roof and frames of the old building built more than a hundred years ago.

References:
Dundas Scrapbook v. 1.  Special Collections, HPL.
Dundas Scrapbook v. 3.  Special Collections, HPL.
Dundas Scrapbook v. 4.  Special Collections, HPL.
Dundas Scrapbook v. 5.  Special Collections, HPL.
Dundas Scrapbook v. 7.  Special Collections, HPL.
Dundas Star Journal.  October 10, 1979. p. 1b, 6b.
Dundas Star Journal.  October 25, 1995. p. 1, 15.
Woodhouse, T. Roy.  The History of the Town of Dundas.  Dundas:   Dundas Historical Society, 1965.