In 1884 the city of Rochelle and the Flagg Township came to an agreement and cooperated to erect the City and Town Hall. John R. Steele, a local contractor, was hired to construct the building from local, red brick at a cost of $6,200. The building became the center for city politics in the small northern Illinois city of Rochelle and the city council made important decisions within its walls regarding the city throughout the last decades of the 19th century.