The Municipal is a plain brick building running north and south. The main entrance faces the east. A hallway extends through the building. At the front of the hallway is a semi-colonial stairway. An enclosed stairway leads from the second floor to the attic.

See form 3686, attached.

This house is known chiefly as being one of the early and better homes built soon after the establishment of the town. It is now known as the Municipal Building and houses the Police Department and City Offices, as well as accommodating the Chamber of Commerce.

Because of the burnt records one cannot with any degree of certainty, get further back than 1818, when John Sites became the owner of the property, who, it is said by Maria G. Carr in her My Recollection of Rocktown, Now Known as Harrisonburg, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1817-1829, built the house as it now stands.

What kind, if any, building was on the lot when Sites bought it is not known; it might possibly have been the present one, though nothing is there to indicate it. It seems quite safe to say it was built prior to 1920, otherwise Mrs. Carr would not have made the statement that John Sites built it. It has also been suggested that it might have been the first Hotel in the town, and judging from the number of the rooms and their arrangement it might have been a hotel.

There have been no material interior changes, and the woodwork is as solid and firm as when built. The rooms are all communicating, and it is possible it might have been made so for hotel purposes, though John Sites lived in it as his home. The stairway, except for the handrail, is a good type of Colonial. The house shows evidence of being a commodious, comfortable home and will stand the strain of many years to come.

Informant: City Engineer, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Rockingham County Court Records, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

My Recollections of Rocktown Now Known as Harrisonburg, Harrisonburg, Virginia.