When Gainesville Mayor J.B. Gaston was leaving office in January 1900, he boasted the city was spending no more than $9,600 on the new city hall, which was in a block just south of the downtown square. That sounds like a paltry amount compared to today’s building costs. But, the mayor said, “This is a much larger amount than we first contemplated.”
Johnny Vardeman: New Gainesville city hall was over estimate, yet was a bargain in 1900