A room that stood the test of time - was restored for the future.
This courtroom has witnessed more than a century of decisions, debates, and community moments. This was brought back to life - preserving its character while preparing it for generations to come.
A Building at the Heart of Bordentown
Completed in 1888, Old City Hall was built to bring many of Bordentown’s essential public services together under one roof. The building originally housed city government offices, a courtroom and judge’s chambers, the police station and jail, and the Delaware Fire Company No. 2.
Designed in the Romanesque style, the building reflected the growing city it was built to serve. For generations, residents passed through its doors for the everyday business of city life—from court proceedings and City Council meetings to elections and other civic matters.
By the 1960s, Bordentown’s municipal government had outgrown the building and city offices relocated. Old City Hall, however, continued to serve the community in a variety of ways, hosting meetings, senior groups, voting and community activities.
Over time, the aging building fell into serious disrepair. A dedicated group of volunteers came together to advocate for its preservation and undertake the long work of raising funds and restoring the landmark. That effort led to the formation of the Old City Hall Restoration Committee, which continues its stewardship of the building today.
Through years of fundraising, planning and restoration work, extensive repairs and improvements helped return Old City Hall to active community use.
Today, Old City Hall remains a gathering place for Bordentown. Events, lectures, performances and community programs continue to bring people through its doors—carrying forward a tradition of public and community use that began more than a century ago.
The Fireside
Tucked behind Old City Hall is a three-room space known today as the Fireside. Once home to the Delaware Fire Company, this part of the building reflects another chapter in Old City Hall’s long history of public service and community use.
Its connection to Bordentown’s firefighting history gives the Fireside a character distinctly different from the former courtroom and municipal spaces elsewhere in the building. Over time, as the building’s uses changed, the former fire company space became known as the Fireside.
Today, the Fireside is one of Old City Hall’s lesser-seen spaces. Years of deterioration have left the rooms in need of significant rehabilitation, and the space is not currently used to its full potential.
The Fireside remains an important part of Old City Hall’s story—and one with possibilities for the future. Preserving the character of the space while addressing its condition could once again allow this historic part of the building to serve the Bordentown community.
Old City Hall - The Fireside
Six (6) stained-glass windows are installed in the back room of the Fireside at Old City Hall. According to local history, the windows were salvaged from a building on Church Street that was later demolished during Bordentown’s urban renewal period. The building had once been home to the First Methodist Church, which merged with Trinity Methodist Church in the 1920s.
Today, the stained-glass windows remain in place but are boarded over on the exterior and are sorely in need of restoration, along with the room in which they are located. Preserving these windows and rehabilitating the space remain part of the work still ahead at Old City Hall.
Marks Left Behind
History at Old City Hall is not found only in official records and architectural details. In one of the former jail cells and on the walls of the attic, names, dates, drawings and other markings remain—graffiti left behind by people who once passed through or spent time in the building.
Some are faint and difficult to decipher, while others include recognizable faces, words and dates. Their stories may never be fully known, but the marks themselves offer an unexpected and very personal connection to Old City Hall’s past.
