The first municipal building in the town was the Kirkcudbright Tolbooth which was completed in 1629. Like other tolbooths, Kirkcudbright Tolbooth had been primarily designed as a prison and, in 1859, the town clerk, William McLellan, and other burgh leaders started a campaign for new public rooms: the site they selected was open land on the east side of St Mary's Street. The new public rooms were erected in 1863 at a cost of £1,900 but within a few years the foundations were found to be unsafe and it became necessary to replace the building with a new structure.
