Petrolia's most important civic project was the construction of a new municipal building in 1889. Victoria Hall was the town's first permanent and well-executed public building. It represented a watershed between the wooden shanty town of the early days and a community of architectural permanence. Housing the Council Chambers, Municipal Offices, Police Station, Fire Hall and a six hundred-seat Opera House, Victoria Hall was hailed by the Toronto World as "one of the best designed and most handsome public buildings in Western Ontario." This handsome buff brick building with its impressive clock tower stood on a park at the centre of town. In addition to its role as a venue for theatrical entertainment, the Opera House of Victoria Hall was used as a social gathering point and a political forum.
