[1] The first municipal building in the town was an early-17th century tolbooth commissioned by the local laird, Sir Alexander Fraser.

[2][3][4] It was primarily used as a prison and a local meeting place: latterly referred to as the town hall, it was a building with a gable and an external staircase facing Saltoun Square.

[9] An aedicula containing a statue, depicting Lieutenant-General Alexander Fraser, 17th Lord Saltoun, and sculpted by Edward Bowring Stephens, was installed on the corner of the building at first floor level in December 1859.

[10] The statue commemorated the life of the local laird who had seen action as a junior officer at the Battle of Waterloo and as a senior commander in the First Opium War and who had died just after construction work on the new town house had started.

[11] Civic leaders hosted a banquet in the town house in August 1905 to recognise the achievements of the locally-born banker, Sir George Anderson, who served as treasurer of the Bank of Scotland.