Woolwich Town Hall
Woolwich Town Hall is the third seat of local government in Woolwich. It was built in 1903–05 when the second town hall, dating from 1842, had become too small. The first town hall was built only a few years earlier, around 1839, but was almost immediately sold to the Metropolitan Police. Earlier, the local government of Woolwich, then a civil parish in the County of Kent, met in a room next to the poorhouse and in the parish church of St Mary Magdalene. The old town hall was initially shared with Woolwich County Court. In 1855 the Metropolis Management Act provided every parish in the metropolitan area with its own local administration. In 
1889 the parish of Woolwich became part of the newly formed County of London. In 1900 the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich was formed from the parishes of Woolwich, Plumstead and Eltham. This prompted the construction of a larger and more representative town hall.
Woolwich, Ontario
Woolwich Township Council was organized in January 1850 with five councillors, of whom John N. Meyer was named as Reeve; James Dow was appointed as clerk and treasurer. A significant influx to the St. Jacobs area started afterwards, primarily consisting of additional Mennonites from Pennsylvania. Farmer and pioneer industrialist Jacob C. Snider, of Swiss German descent, was the most important settler at the time and the community was named after him: Jakobstettel (Jacob's Village). He built a dam to power several mills and then built a sawmill, woolen mill and flour mill by 1852. This helped to attract others to the small community. The "St." was added to the name simply to make it sound more pleasing and the pluralization was in honour of the combined efforts of Jacob C. Snider (1791–1865) and his son, Jacob C. Snider, Jr. (1822–1857), founders of the village. The first post office in St. Jacobs opened in 1852, called St. Jacobs and the village was incorporated in that year. By 1855, the population was 400.