8. The Site of the First
    Town Hall and Jail

It was merely a 20 foot by 30 foot building with a 10 by 20 foot jail attached. Other attachments were added down through the years, though no room in the structure was much larger than a single car garage. Meetings of all kinds, including Town Council meetings and the Town Recorders Court, were held here. The Volunteer Fire Department and the Sherwood Public Library were housed here for many years. A surprisingly detailed account of the original building's construction is contained in the Sherwood Town Minutes, including the preparations that went into fixing it up for the Town's first election in December 1893. A ballot box containing "a good Yale lock" was decided upon, and an American flag to hang over the doorway. These objects demonstrated Sherwood's loyalty to the United States during a century when Oregon could easily have pledged itself to Canada or the Confederacy.