In 1835, John Polk Campbell planned the Greene County seat and donated 50 acres for the townsite, including 2 acres for the Public Square. In 1836, the first courthouse, a two-story red brick building, was built in the center of the square. By 1858, Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoaches stopped at a station on the square's northeast corner, construction was underway on a new courthouse on the northwest corner at College Street, and a town well was dug for public use. During the Civil War, Union troops under Col. Frank Sigel marched into the square on June 24, 1861, military command increased under Union Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, who was killed at the Battle of Wilson's Creek on Aug. 10, Confederates under Gen. Sterling Price briefly held control, the original 1836 courthouse burned during the Oct. 25 raid led by Maj. Charles Zagonyi at the head of Gen. John C. Fremont's bodyguard, and a Union army of 30,000 withdrew when Fremont lost command on Nov. 3. In 1862, the Union army again occupied Springfield and used the new courthouse for military purposes. On Jan. 8, 1863, the Battle of Springfield moved close to the Public Square before the attacking Confederates were repulsed. In 1865, Wild Bill Hickok killed Dave Tutt in a gun duel over a poker debt and Hickok's watch. A wooden bell tower with a speaker's platform was built in the square in 1871 and stood until 1882. In 1883, Union and Confederate veterans of Wilson's Creek dedicated a monument to Gen. Lyon, which was moved in 1884 to National Cemetery. In 1896, Gottfried Tower, topped with a Statue of Liberty and illuminated by electricity, was erected and remained until 1908. In 1910, the courthouse on the square was sold as construction began on a new building at Boonville and Central. In 1911, a round concrete slab known as the pie, encircled by trolley tracks, became the square's center. In 1947, the pie was removed to permit cross-square traffic. In 1970, Park Central Square was dedicated as a Pedestrian Plaza.
