ISHPEMING — The Ishpeming Municipal Building, which is today recognized as Ishpeming City Hall, was built at 100 E. Division St. in Ishpeming starting in 1889. It was finished in 1891.

The construction of the building cost $35,000, the rough equivalent of $1.5 million in today’s money.

The structure was designed by an architect out of Milwaukee named Demetrius F. Charlton.

The Michigan Historical Review notes that Charlton was the first known architect to reside in the U.P.

Charlton designed more than 400 buildings in Michigan, according to author Steve Brisson.

Locally, these projects includ the Longyear House in Marquette, the Upper Peninsula Asylum for the Insane in Newberry and the Marquette County Courhouse.

The Society of Architectural Historians calls Ishpeming’s City Hall sturdy and well crafted, built from brick and red sandstone.

The large round-arched entrance at the foot of the tower is reminiscent of famed architect H. H. Richardson’s Allegheny County Courthouse which was completed in 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The striking Romanesque-style of the two-story building reflects Ishpeming’s prosperity at the time it was constructed.

Ishpeming was a considered a key iron ore mining town, nearby Cliffs Shafts Mine being one of the largest in the Upper Peninsula, according to the Ishpeming Historical Society.

The street was not paved at the time the building was constructed, and would not be paved until more than 20 years later in 1912.

For a time the building housed the city’s library and jail in addition as well as its administrative offices for nearly 12,000 residents.

That same year the Iron Cliff’s Company, and the Cleveland Iron Company merged to create the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company.

The Ishpeming Municipal Building was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1981.

The city hall building has gone through many changes over the years.

Most recently, a $1.6 million U.S. Department of Agriculture loan provided a facelift to the outside of the building and an elevator to make the second floor ADA accessible in 2015.

Today the building continues to be stand in the middle of Ishpeming as its city hall. Monthly Ishpeming City Council meetings are held on the second floor.