The building now used as Darien's City Hall was built as an armory in the 1870's.  It later served as a fire house, police station, community house, and is now City Hall.

The Burning of Darien

On June 11, 1863 the seaport of Darien was vandalized and burned by Federal forces stationed on nearby St. Simons Island.  The town was largely deserted, most of its 500 residents having sought refuge inland.  Lost were public buildings, churches, businesses and most private residences.  Conducting the raid were units comprised of among the first African-American troops to serve the Union cause, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers under Col. Robert G. Shaw, and the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers under Col. James Montgomery.  The burning of Darien, undefended and of little strategic importance, was one of the most controversial events of the Civil War.

At the direction of Bishop Stephen Elliot, a group of planters and other citizens of McIntosh County organized a mission congregation under the name St. Peter's Church, Darien in 1841.  A year later, the name of the congregation was changed to St. Andrew's and the congregation was admitted as a parish in the diocese in 1843.  The first church building was completed in 1844.  The civil war was not kind to Darien or St. Andrew's.  From 1862 to 1866, the parish was abandoned.  In 1863, Union troops, including the 54th Massachusetts under the command of Colonel Robert Shaw, burned Darien.  After the war, Mrs. Shaw and some of her friends sent money to assist in the rebuilding of St. Andrew's.  Although those funds were in fact used to construct a church at the Ridge, members of the parish eventually raised the funds to buy the lot where the Bank of Darien had previously stood and to construct the present St. Andrew's church building.  The building was completed and consecrated in 1879.  One of the most photographed buildings in Darien, St. Andrew's looks out on Vernon Square.