Welcome to the heart of Bowling Green! At any given time you might find a concert, wedding, hear a politician or even see Santa Clause when the Square is illuminated for Christmas.
Frontier Courthouse Square
Settlers trickled into this area around 1790. The Moore brothers, a locally prominent family, donated two acres of land for use as a public square. Carpenters built a log courthouse and jail to assist the establishment of local government around 1798. The Square became the heart of legal, business and social transactions where locals served food and liquor, the judge served justice and merchants sold their wares to a growing population seeking a wide variety of products.
Fountain Square Park
A brick two-story courthouse replaced the original log building as the town grew. Although no battle took place in Bowling Green during the Civil War, some of the commercial buildings around the Square burned. The town survived the occupation of two armies but it looked ragged afterwards.
A fashionable, larger courthouse was built in 1869, a block to the west. The use of the Square changed as the City officially designated this as Fountain Square Park
And added a limestone fountain.
The Fountain in the Square
The original fountain deteriorated so the City ordered the current iron fountain from the J.L.
Mott Ironworks of New York in 1881. To give the fountain a final flourish, Hebe the goddess of youth, crowned the top. Four iron statues based upon Roman mythology circle Hebe's fountain. Ceres the goddess of grain, Pomona the goddess of fruit, Melpomane the goddess of tragedy, and Flora the goddess of flowers.
The Square Today
Although businesses come and go, many of the historic buildings remain including the oldest building on the square, the three-story Younglove, built in 1837 on the corner of State and Main Streets. In the 1980s, property owners, government officials and historic preservationists joined forces to protect and revitalize the area by listing it as a National Register and Local Historic District and by rehabilitating the buildings and park. Today, concerts, art walks, festivals, events at the Capitol theater and many interesting shops and restaurants attract tourists and residents.
Elegant ladies relax around the fountain in Victorian garb.
As the oldest building on the Square, the Younglove's appearance changed over time. This photo was taken in the mid 1800s and shows the original entrance.
The Nahm Brothers became some of the city's most successful businessmen and built large stores downtown.
County Court Day Scene, Park Square, Bowling Green, Ky. Dec., 1910
The second courthouse,
built in 1812.
Temperance rally in the Square, ca 1907.
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