Redmond Town Hall

The Redmond Town Hall is one of the best remaining examples in Utah of a building which served as a community center for religious, educational and political purposes. The original adobe structure with the larger rock addition also stands as an excellent example of the evolution of community buildings in rural pioneer Utah.

Located at 18 West Main Street in Redmond, Utah and added to the National Historic Register (#76001836) on September 13, 1976.

• D.U.P. Historic Marker “Redmond Town Hall”

The community of Redmond was settled in the late summer and early fall of 1875 primarily by Scandinavians from nearby Salina. The first years were devoted to the clearing of farm land and digging of irrigation ditches and canals. In 1881 the original adobe section of the town hall was constructed. Citizens contributed both money and work in the commercial undertaking. The 24′ x 36 adobe structure was used for LDS Church services, as a school, and for town meetings. Within a short time the building proved too small to meet the various community needs and in the mid 1890’s a larger two story rock building was constructed adjacent to the original adobe building,

The two connected buildings served as Redmond’s church and school until 1911 when a school house was completed west of the town hall and 1917. when a-church was built-across the street southeast of the building.

The town hall continued to function as a community center after 1917. It is presently (1976) being renovated as a community Bicentennial project.

The Redmond Town Hall consists of an adobe structure built in 1881 and an adjoining rock structure built in the 1890’s.

The adobe building measures 24 v by 36 feet, contains one room, is one story in height and has a gabled roof. Entry was made through either of two doors flanking a single window on the east side of the building. The multi-purpose room was heated by a stove connected to the chimney still situated at the north end of the building. The adobe walls have been sheathed with scored stucco intending to imitate smooth cut stone. An unpretentious edifice, the only decorative elements were the Federal lintel caps, the corbeled brickwork on the chimney and perhaps the modestly adorned box cornice and plain frieze. The ends of two beams supporting the ceiling joists can be seen resting in the wall from the outside of the building. Metal tension rods or tie bars are also apparent on either side of a large vertical masonry crack in the north wall. After its discontinuance as a meetinghall, the adobe building served as a jail. Steel bars in a few windows remain as evidence of newer function.

Connected to the small adobe on the south is the two-story rock Town Hall, built apparently between 1891 and 1897. While the earlier building was vernacular in style and unpresuming, the newer structure took on an air of dignity and style, however, modest. The rectangular structure was built of a light colored limestone quarried east of Redmond. The stone was cut, squared, slightly rock faced, and laid in a plain ashlar pattern.

Formality of design was provided by a regular window schedule with windows on both floors being of equal size and type and being arranged directly over one another. All window and door bays are segmentally arched with stone voussoirs of the same dressing as the face stone. All windows are 2/2 double-hung sash type and have wooden sills. The roof is hipped and has a lowered belfry on the ridge which runs east and west. The chimneys are brick and corbeled and are secured to the roof by metal tie bars. The cornice is simply boxed and overhangs the building by about 20″. There is no frieze or any decorative wooden or masonry trim.

As one enters the Redmond Town Hall through its only door, a large single room is found at the right (east) while directly ahead (north) is a stairway which leads to the two upper rooms on the second floor. The main room on the ground floor was used for mass meetings and as a small library. The council room was the smaller of the two upper rooms (on the east), while the other second story room (on the west) was used for recreational functions.

The interior walls, ceilings, floors, moldings, doors, hardware, etc., are almost completely intact. The door and window mouldings are a post-Eastlake type and provide the greatest element of architectural relief.

Both parts of the Redmond Town Hall are in stable condition and are undergoing restoration as a Utah Bicentennial project.