After the Central Pacific Railroad built a train depot more than a mile away and uphill from Old Auburn, civic leaders sought to connect the two areas by identifying a halfway point between the Placer County Court House and the East Auburn Train Depot, and this place became known as Central Square. When concrete sidewalks appeared there circa 1905, the halfway point was marked by a medallion used in legal descriptions for that block of properties, and it survived many years of sidewalk repairs. The oldest remaining building in Central Square began as William G. Lee’s single-story department store circa 1906. Eureka Lodge #16, Free and Accepted Masons, chartered in Auburn on November 17, 1851, bought the building in 1913 and in 1916 completed a two-story meeting room and social hall above the original structure. A.D. Fellows designed the addition, Herdan Brothers of Auburn built it, and its facade was made of terra cotta from the Gladding McBean plant in Lincoln. Since its completion, the building has been continuously used by the Masons and the Auburn community. In 1918, Central Square was the scene of a spontaneous celebration when Auburn residents learned that the Germans had signed the Armistice Agreement ending World War I, and many marchers wore face masks because of fear of the Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919. Veterans Day continues to be observed there when Auburn’s Veterans Day Parade passes through Central Square in November. The Auburn Opera House, built in 1891 across the street from the halfway point, hosted John Philip Souza and his marching band as well as many other entertainers, and it also held civic events and high school activities before later serving as a movie theatre and a bowling alley until it burned in 1957. In 1883, the First Congregational Church originally stood in Central Square on the site now occupied by Wells Fargo Bank, and both the church and Sierra Normal College, now Placer High School, were dedicated at the same time; during the rainy season, the church’s wet surroundings earned it the nickname “Swamp Angel.”