The original settlers in what now is Bay City arrived in the 1830s. By 1857, fourteen sawmills were located along the Saginaw River, and after the Civil War both lumbering and shipbuilding continued strongly. In 1889, voters approved the construction of a new city hall. In 1892, local architects Leverett A. Pratt and Walter Koeppe were hired to design the structure, and the cornerstone was laid in 1894. The building was completed by the summer of 1897 at a cost of $175,000.
