Public Square

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This article is about the plaza in Cleveland. For other uses, see Public Square (disambiguation).

Public Square in 1912, facing east. The Old Stone Church is the third building on the left. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument is on the right, in front of the Williamson Building, which was later demolished for the BP Tower.

Public Square (also called The Square by locals) is the central plaza in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, USA. It takes up four city blocks; Superior Avenue and Ontario Street cross through it. Cleveland's three tallest buildings, Key Tower, the BP Tower and the Terminal Tower, face the square. Other Public Square landmarks include the 1855 Old Stone Church and the former Higbee's department store made famous in the 1983 movie A Christmas Story.

A 125-foot monument to Civil War soldiers and sailors occupies the southeast quadrant of the square. City founder Moses Cleaveland and reformist mayor Tom L. Johnson each have statues on the square.

The Terminal Tower on the southwestern corner of Public Square was the tallest building outside of New York City for more than four decades.

Key Tower on the northeastern corner of Public Square is now the tallest building in Cleveland.

Public Square was part of the Connecticut Land Company's original plan for the city, which were overseen by Moses Cleaveland in the 1790s. The Square is signature of the layout for early New England towns, which Cleveland was modeled after. While it initially served as a common pasture for settlers' animals, less than a century later Public Square was the height of modernity when, in 1879 it became the first street in the world to be lit with electric street lights, arc lamps designed by Cleveland native Charles F. Brush. The Square was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 18, 1975.

Incongruously, a parking lot now faces the northwest quadrant of the square. A 12-story building, which was built on the spot in 1913, was demolished in 1990 to make way for the new Ameritrust Center, an 1,197-foot skyscraper designed by New York's Kohn Pedersen Fox.^[1] But before construction could begin, Ameritrust was acquired by Society Bank, which was also planning to construct and subsequently relocate to a new building on Public Square — the Key Tower (formerly known as the Society Center). As Society did not need two skyscrapers, plans for the Ameritrust building across The Square were scrapped.

U.S. routes 42, 322 and 422 and several Ohio state highways begin at Public Square. U.S. Route 6 passes through the square on Superior, and U.S. Route 20 enters from the west on Superior and leaves via Euclid Avenue.

Public Square is often the site of political rallies and civic functions, including a free annual Independence Day concert by the Cleveland Orchestra.