The Town Hall was, and in many small towns, still is the center of local civic business. It was a place to gather for town meetings, to cast ballots for city, state, and federal elections and where the records of property transactions and various other town records were kept.

The Ushers Ferry Town Hall was originally College Township Hall, southwest of Cedar Rapids. It was in extremely poor condition from its roof to its floor joists. It was restored using materials from buildings undergoing demolition. This hall was originally a school; "Old School" built on land donated by a farmer, probably around 1875. It became a Town Hall when "New School" or "Center School" was built near it around 1900.

Several Linn County halls served towns and townships. Townships, the next smaller jurisdiction below county government, had three elected trustees and a township clerk. Long time town clerks Leo Rigel and Mrs. Michael O'Connell tell us that trustees handled everything from reporting deaths and diseases, to quarantining families with smallpox, diphtheria, or scarlet fever to grading and supervising roads, and reporting fires to the state fire marshal. Trustees did, and still do, assess land and livestock for taxes every winter; supervise township cemeteries; settle disputes over fence lines, and related matters. They also conduct elections, hold township meetings and pay the township bills.

There were two judges for elections. Voter names were recorded by hand. Voter registration was unheard of-everybody knew who you were when you came to vote. The ballot box, furnished by the county was a square box with a slot in the top, or a metal cylinder with rollers turned by a crank. Like clothes through an old washing machine wringer, the ballot was cranked down between the rollers into the metal can.

Our Town Hall serves a double purpose in that it also features maps, drawings, and photographs of early Linn County and Cedar Rapids.