Welcome to Stop 8 of the Rails, Bales and Bluebonnet Trails historic downtown Ennis walking tour. This building was occupied by the Ennis Opera House in the 1890s but by 1901 it was already City Hall, the center of the city’s administrative and municipal services. In 1915, the city fathers decided that a new municipal center was needed to serve as a symbol of the town’s growing prosperity and commissioned architect Hix McCanless to design this city hall. In addition to city offices, it housed the fire department and the police department and once was home to the public library and city archives. A public meeting and lecture hall was on the second floor. The stores behind you on the north side of the street have served a variety of commercial functions such as restaurants, groceries and shoemaker shops.