The land now occupied by City Hall was once under water.  It was the South Basin -- a sort of parking lot for canal boats.  When the city determined the stagnant waters in the basin were a health hazard, orders were given to fill it in.

In 1846 Market Hall, designed by Luther Gifford, was completed on top of this fill.  There were stalls for a public market on the first floor and a public meeting hall on the second.

The building was enlarged 20 feet to the south in 1857 and the first floor stalls were closed in to form rooms.  The building then held the city's first public library in the northwest corner, the common council and city clerk's offices were in the southeast corner.

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The second floor assembly chamber saw its share of historic meetings.  The Whigs Party held its state convention there in 1850, as did the Republican Party in 1874.  Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage were among the attendees who elected Lucretia Mott president of the Women's Rights Convention in 1852.