The Second Town Hall

The Second Town Hall. . , Built in 1816, the new market house/town hall maintained the English tradition of placing commercial activity and government functions in the same building. Its location facing Princess Anne Street, however, reflects the evolution of that corridor as the town's government/religious/financial center. In 1984, when the local government offices moved to a new building, also on Princess Anne Street, this one became the Fredericksburg Area Museum., Like the first town hall, the new building featured an open-air first level, where meat, dairy products, and other local farm products were sold. The town's fire-fighting equipment was also kept there. Not surprisingly, the fish market was outside, in a corner of the market square. As commercial activity grew, the fish market was moved across Princess Anne Street and the fire-fighting equipment was relocated to the court house., [Aside and captions:] , The General [the Marquis de Lafayette] and his suite were then conducted into the Town Hall, which had been decorated with evergreens and flowers... (Fredericksburg Virginia Herald)., This sketch, from an 1818 fire insurance policy notes the town hall's size and building materials. The dirt floor noted for the market area was bricked over in the 1820s., On November 20, 1824, the Marquis de Lafayette visited Fredericksburg as part of a grand tour. He was fondly remembered from the American Revolution, when he had led a division of Continental troops in this part of Virginia, in the months prior to the campaign that ended at Yorktown., The building in front of you faces Princess Anne Street. The front has a decidedly civic look, while the rear of the building, with its open-air market, was clearly the commercial component., This detail from an 1856 lithograph shows the second Market House/Town Hall and the open Market Square in the center of the block. The adjacent St. George's Church shows the close proximity of these religious and government institutions.