Showers City Hall

HISTORY 

The current Showers City Hall plays a huge part in Bloomington, Indiana as a town itself, and has done so for a very long time. Before the Showers City Hall was built, there was the Showers Brother Furniture Factory, which mass produced dining and living room furniture, such as shelves, tables, chairs, and other similar things. In the 1920s, the factory was responsible for over 60% of all furniture production in the United States. Fun fact: There are marks on some beams inside of the factory, since workers used to hit them with their tools upon finishing their shift and leaving. They also invented lamination for furniture production.

The factory caught fire in 1884 and led to them rebuilding the factory on Morton Street, which was larger and more complex. The Showers Brother Furniture Factory was founded in 1868, and eventually sold in 1955 to Storkline. Their sawtooth roof that they had to light the factory when electricity wasn’t available was one of the very first sawtooth roofs in the entire world. This was before electricity, and other places started to use it too.

The factory had very large doorways in order to fit big furniture through them. The Showers City Hall is over 80 years old, and plays a massive part in Bloomington. Showers City Hall was first started when renovations were being made for the Showers Brother Furniture Factory, which they then converted to the city hall in 1995, where it has its current uses today. Along with the Showers Brother Furniture Factory, there is another Showers landmark. The Showers Pond was a nearby water source which Bloomington used for a long time, and was how a lot of their water was accessed. 

ROLE IN THE COMMUNITY

Lots of major Government offices are at the Showers City Hall, as well as the mayor’s office. People are able to book appointments with the mayor, and speak to them about issues they are having. The Showers City Hall has so many offices in the building, that the only offices and companies that aren’t there are 911 services. The Showers City Hall is where most services and decisions made running the city happen. The Showers City Hall also has City Council meetings here, which the public can attend as it is a large room with seats that anyone can sit in and participate in the meeting.