Williamsport City Hall, City hall building in Williamsport, US

Williamsport City Hall is a Victorian-style former municipal building occupying a full city block in downtown Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Its yellow brick facade is trimmed with stone and copper, and the roofline is broken by a central six-story tower, a smaller octagonal tower, gables, dormers, and many rounded arches around the windows and doors.

The building was completed in 1894 to serve as the seat of city government, on land that had once been Ross Park Cemetery. The remains from that burial ground were moved before construction, and the city offices remained here until the early 2000s.

The hotel rooms are decorated around local stories, with some named after Harry Houdini, the Little League Baseball, and Mark Twain. This choice keeps the memory of Williamsport's famous moments alive for people staying in the building today.

Visitors can walk around the entire block to take in the brickwork, towers, and the Civil War memorial at the entrance. The upper floors now operate as a hotel, so the building can be seen from the outside at any time and from the inside when the lobby is open.

Mark Twain reportedly visited Williamsport in 1869 and saw the neglected cemetery that once stood on this spot, later using it as inspiration for a short story called 'The Remarkable Dream'. The link between that forgotten graveyard and today's hotel remains one of the building's quiet surprises.