[2] Following significant population growth, largely associated with the iron-smelting industry, civic leaders decided to commission a town hall.

The new building was designed by William Lambie Moffatt in the Italianate style, built in red brick with stone dressings and was completed in 1846.

[3] However, in the early 1880s, civic leaders decided to procure a more substantial town hall on open land in a developing area to the south of the Middlesbrough branch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

[5] The old town hall continued to be used as a public library and as a community events venue for the St Hilda's estate until it was closed by Middlesbrough Council in 1996.

[6] Despite a local campaign to retain the estate,[7] most of the 1970s housing was demolished as part of a regeneration project in the early years of the 21st century leaving the town hall derelict and isolated.