The Town Square

Reserved for public use in the original 1809 town plan, the public square also established the early town limits, first drawn as a half-mile radius in 1822 and then as a mile radius in 1849, creating circular boundaries in a common early Georgia town-planning technique. The square remained in continuous public use as county courthouses from c.1810 to 1844 and from 1845 to 1907, City Hall from 1909 to 1916, Town Park from 1917 to 1930, and U.S. Post Offices beginning in 1931. A year later, the city sold the property to the federal government but negotiated its use as a park until post office construction began. Public accessories and amenities long adorned the square, including the 1856 Braswell Monument at the west corner, the town Market from 1851 to c.1885, a Victorian gazebo around 1901, the city Police Shack from about 1950 to 1975, and the 1908 Cooke Fountain, placed at the north corner from 1925 to 1931 when street paving began.

Madison, Georgia · United States