The first municipal building in the town was a
tolbooth in the High Street which dated back to the 15th century. It was demolished and replaced by a townhouse, known as the
Midsteeple, which was completed in 1707. The old courthouse was then converted for municipal use as a town hall, to a design by John Johnstone, but it was badly damaged in a fire on 29 November 1908. In the 1920s civic leaders decided to demolish the old building in Buccleuch Street and to replace it with a new structure on the same site. The new building was designed by James Carruthers of
Glasgow in the
Edwardian Baroque style, built in red
ashlar stone extracted from a quarry at
Locharbriggs and was officially opened by the
Duke of Gloucester on 20 September 1932. However, it ceased to be the local seat of government when
Dumfries and Galloway Council became the new
unitary authority for the area, with its offices at
County Buildings in English Street, in 1996. The municipal buildings instead became the local
provost's office ==See also==