Today we know the Square as a hub of good food, friends, and entertainment, this varies wildly from when the Square was first founded in 1830. For the residents of Carrollton in 1830 The Square would’ve been a place to get groceries, get your horses fitted with new shoes or trade for furs, everything you needed would be across the street or next door. Today the square is lined with restaurants, book shops, and coffee shops, when you think of the square it’s not a place you’d go to get an oil change or buy your weekly groceries. The square changed from a place that was easily traversable by pedestrians to becoming focused on the flow of traffic.

When the town of Carrollton was incorporated in 1830 the blueprints for a town square immediately went into development. The first buildings to go up in the square were a large log courthouse and several taverns. As the town grew so did the square with stores and hotels popping up over the years. When the Griffin and North Alabama railroad company laid tracks through the Square in 1874 Carrollton became a booming trade hub. By this point the square still retained much of its original design functions. Stores, taverns, hotels, and diners still lined the street with the Courthouse at the center of it all. The Square was entirely pedestrian focused as there wasn’t much traffic to be seen.

One of the first buildings put into the square was torn down to make way for the rapid growth of Carrollton in 1893. The old courthouse that had been standing for 43 years by now was torn down to make way for the rapidly increasing amount of traffic that was coming through the square as greater amounts of farmers and traders were coming through the town as it became more industrialized. In 1928 a new courthouse would be built two blocks away from the original site. For decades the center of the square served as a park for the many pedestrians that frequented the area but in 1958 it would be destroyed and paved to be more automobile friendly.

The Square has still retained some of its original design ideas with many decades old stores remaining exactly where they were built such as Carrollton Hardware, Western Auto and the Hub Department Store. The Historic South Residential District also has many buildings built in the late 19th century. Despite the modernization of the Square it’s still a bustling place with restaurants and shops replacing the groceries stores and trading posts.

In short the square has changed from its original function as a hub for people to get everything they need in a small space to more of a place for entertainment or a nice dinner but that hasn’t made it any lesser of a place over the years.