The Hancock Town Hall and Fire Hall is a public building located at 399 Quincy Street in the Quincy Street Historic District in Hancock, Michigan, United States. It is also known as the Hancock City Hall. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1977 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
History
By the end of the 19th century, the citizens of Hancock wanted a substantial government building that would reflect the city's prosperity and distinguish it from the more impermanent mining villages in the surrounding Keweenaw Peninsula. In 1898, the Quincy Mine company sold a lot on Quincy Street to the city, and the Marquette firm of Charlton, Gilbert and Demar was hired to design a Town Hall and Fire Hall building on the site. E.E. Grip and Company of Ishpeming built the structure at a cost of $15,000, which opened in January 1899. The building originally housed the city clerk's office and council chambers, along with the marshall's office, jail, and the fire department.
Description
The Hancock Town Hall is a two-story building constructed of rock-faced red Jacobsville Sandstone set in even courses, exhibiting Richardsonian Romanesque, Dutch, and Flemish architectural influences. It has a gable roof and a square tower with belfry at one corner; the tower originally had a steep conical roof. The main facade is dominated by a broadly arched window filled with diagonally paned glass and flanked by smaller windows.