[1] The current building was commissioned to replace an earlier market house, financed by Sir William Cole, who was closely involved in the Plantation of Ulster, and completed in around 1618.

[2] In the late 19th century, after the market house became dilapidated, civic leaders decided to construct a new town hall on the same site.

[4][5] It was designed by William Alphonsus Scott of Drogheda in the Renaissance style, built in limestone with Dungannon sandstone dressings at a cost of £13,000 and was officially opened by the Countess of Erne on 6 January 1901.

[5] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the Townhall Street; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a Doric order portico with heavy oak doors and a fanlight; there was a balcony and a French door on the first floor with two pairs of Corinthian order pilasters supporting an entablature and a pediment with a coat of arms in the tympanum.

[11][12] On 10 February 2003 the Continuity Irish Republican Army detonated a bomb outside the town hall in anticipation of an intended visit to Northern Ireland by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, two days later; three officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland were hurt in the blast.