Transcription contributed by Martie Callihan 3 December 2004

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After the completion of the second court house, the old one became known as the town hall. About 1844, a third story was added to the building by the Masonic order of Lebanon, and used as a lodge for many years. The Mechanics' Institute held its lectures and discussions, at first in the lower, and afterward in the second, story. As the first court house of Warren County, the first town hall, the first library and reading room of Lebanon, the memories clustering around the quaint old building make the spot on which it stood historic ground. There Francis Dunlevy, Joshua Collet and George J. Smith sat as President Judges under the first constitution of Ohio There John McLean and Thomas Corwin made their earliest efforts at the bar. There, in the court of justice, the town meeting and the institute, were often heard the voices of men whose names have given the people of Lebanon a just pride in its early history. The old building was destroyed by fire on the morning of September 1, 1874.