Elizabeth Hall
A Walk Through History
At the centre of town lies the one building that really helped develop Napanee’s local government in the 19th century.
Napanee’s Town Hall was erected in 1856 and also acted as the location for the town’s local market, the town hall-market place arrangement being popular in the province at the time. The architect who designed the building we know today was a man named Edward Horsey, who was from Kingston and also assisted in the designing of the Kingston Penitentiary, which was built from local stone and put together by the inmates. Even to this day the Town Hall remains a staple in the town, with it being in the centre of everything. At the heart of town, one might say.
John A. Macdonald, Canada’s First Prime Minister, made several speeches here, including his campaign speech, presented by Macdonald from the balcony of the Town Hall on Jan. 13, 1882. His last speech came on Feb. 2, 1891. In 1928, an extended pediment, with roundel detailing and Doric columns was added, which gave it a similar look to a classic Greek temple that went along with the rest of the building’s Greek Revival style.
The Town Hall also served as the Town’s first “detention centre”. As the town was developing, its population wasn’t that big, so the need for a larger jail wasn’t there. So they put in some cells in the basement of the town hall and kept people there who committed crimes, usually just for small thefts or drunken and rude language. The metal bars from the original cells are no longer there, and the town’s jail was moved to the building which is now the Lennox and Addington Museum and Archives.
Random History Fact: The Trojan war started because Paris, Prince of Troy, kidnapped and stole a woman named Helen from a man named Menelaus, the King of Sparta, right after Sparta and Troy had made a peace agreement.