In the 18th century it was located where it is today, but was then moved to the place where Parque Seminario is today. In 1817, the Town Hall was built in its current location, on the Malecon and 10 de Agosto Street. It was on this site that the Declaration of Independence of Guayaquil was signed on 9 October 1820. In 1908, the building, made of wood and bricks, was burnt down when it was discovered that the underground part of the building was inhabited by rodents that would have caused the bubonic plague that afflicted the city. As a result, the seat of the city administration was moved again, to the building that is now the Club de la Union and to 10 de Agosto and Chile streets.