Settled in 1832 by Maynard Maltby, this community was originally called Ore Creek for the stream that flows through it. In 1838 its name was changed to Brighton. It was incorporated as a village in 1867 and as a city in 1928. In 1878 the village council voted to build this hall. Local contractor James Collett completed it in 1879. The hall originally housed village council offices, a voting room, a jail and a firehouse. Its one-room weekend library grew into the public library that it housed for all but nine years from 1927 to 1981.