In 1820 a Main Street residence was erected for the Honorable William Nelson, a notable Peekskill attorney who served in the U.S. Congress from 1846 to 1851, and who was a friend and colleague of Congressman Abraham Lincoln. Decades later, in 1898, the home was donated to what was then the Village of Peekskill as its first municipal building. In 1936, Nelson's original residence was replaced with the current Peekskill City Hall, built by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works.
The Peekskill Common Council meets the second and fourth Monday of every month at 7:30pm in the council room on the third floor.