Public Square Timeline

Public Square Timeline
A timeline of significant dates in Public Square's history.

For a narrative of the square's history, see Public Square History.

1800 - First settlements in Watertown built on what is square's west side.

1805 - Public Square created.

1815 - John Paddock built square's first masonry building.

1825 - Harris House built.

1827 - American House built.

1838 - First Baptist Church built.

1843 - Streeter Block built.

1846 - First Baptist Church burns down, church rebuilt.

1848 - Norris Woodruff's first Iron Block built.

1849 - Fire destroys much of square.

1849 - Depression in center of square filled in.

1850 - Iron Block rebuilt.

1850 - Paddock Building built.

1850 - Paddock Arcade built.

1850 - American Building built.

1850 - Universalist Church built.

1851 - Woodruff House built.

1853 - Washington Hall built.

1853 - Railroad station built behind Woodruff House.

1853 - Gas lines and lamps installed.

1853 - Public Square Parks created.

1855 - First fountain erected.

1855 - Telegraph office opens in Arcade.

1857 - Abolitionist Frederick Douglass speaks at Washington Hall.

1860 - Hibbard and Cahill blocks built.

1870 - Current fountain installed.

1870 - Buck Building created from three smaller buildings.

1870 - Five building block on square's north side built.

1871 - Doolittle and Hall Block built.

1872 - FW Woolworth takes job at Smith and Moore's store in American Building.

1872 - Taggart Building built.

1872 - Ulysses S. Grant speaks from Woodruff House balcony.

1879 - Telephone lines installed.

1888 - Soldier and Sailor's Monument erected.

1895 - Smith (later Mohican) Building built.

1896 - First Baptist church torn down and rebuilt.

1896 - Public Square first paved.

1900 - Benadio Building built.

1906 - Harris House torn down.

1906 - Franklin Building built.

1907 - Universalist Church torn down.

1907 - LeRay Hotel (later Electric Building) built.

1907 - Wonderland Theater opens in LeRay Hotel.

1908 - Doolittle and Hall Block remodeled into Lincoln Building.

1911 - Washington Hall torn down.

1913 - YMCA built.

1913 - Streeter Block remodeled, renamed JB Wise Block.

1913 - Victoria Theater openes in JB Wise Block.

1919 - American Building demolished.

1919 - One half of Paddock Building demolished.

1920 - Woodruff House expands, renamed Hotel Woodruff.

1921 - Woolworth Building built.

1922 - Taggart Building burns down.

1924 - Commerce Building built.

1945 - VE Day celebrated on Public Square.

1953 - Little Trees car freshners invented in Electric Building.

1953 - Islands in center of square combined into one park.

1958 - JB Wise Block torn down.

1959 - Fountain statue vandalized.

1960 - Fountain statue restored.

1964 - Mohican Building torn down.

1965 - Railyard and depot behind Hotel Woodruff demolished.

1965 - JB Wise Parking Lot created.

1966 - Strauss Electric Building burns down.

1971 - Woolworth's Department Store moves to Arsenal Street.

1974 - Hotel Woodruff closes.

1976 - Hotel Woodruff demolished.

1982 - Electric Building torn down.

1984 - Public Square listed on National Register of Historic Places.

1991 - Henry Keep Apartments built.

1996 - Woodruff Professional Building built.

2002 - Fountain statue vandalized.

2005 - Three buildings in Iron Block demolished.

2006 - Streetscape Renovation Project begins.

2008 - Fountain statue restored.

2008 - Streetscape Project completed.

2011 - J.B. Wise Project completed.

For more:

Public Square History