The town hall was where the town council and court used to deliver endless sentences to those who had strayed from the straight and narrow for over a hundred years. The town council used the town hall as its meeting place until the early 1950s. Many a celebration also took place in the town hall in the 1800s – after all, there were no other suitable facilities in the region. The building looks nearly the same as back then.
It was renovated in 1985–1990 and the City of Kajaani was granted a building conservation prize by the Oulu province for this work. Since the renovation, the town hall has served as an office for the various agencies of the City of Kajaani and has the city’s tourist information service. The Elias Lönnrot centre has been operating in the building since February 2007.
The Raatihuoneentori square located in front of the town hall was previously the centre of business in Kajaani and the place for organising two major markets each year.
