Isle of Ely County Council was created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888.

The county council decided instead to hold its meetings in March, being a more central location within the Isle, and with better railway connections.

[1] For the first twenty years after its creation the county council met at the Temperance Hall in March, an assembly hall and hotel which had been built in 1885 opposite March railway station (and which was later renamed the Station Hotel).

The building was formally opened on 28 July 1909 by Joseph Martin, the chairman of the council, and called "County Hall".

Each extension took the form of a linked block in a similar style to the 1909 original at the eastern end of the site.