"Seneca Street was vastly changed by urban renewal, a massive federal effort in the 1950s and 1960s that resulted in the demolition of old buildings to make way for new construction and parking. Located on the northeast corner, site of the current parking ramp, was the Old City Hall, a distinctive 1842 Greek Revival brick building. In 1965, Ithaca’s Urban Renewal Agency razed the City Hall and an elaborate public drinking fountain in front of it donated by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (1896), sparking local action for historic preservation." 

Historic Ithaca, DeWitt Park Historic District and Downtown Ithaca: An Architectural Walking Tour, 22. http://www.historicithaca.org/