The Original Vision
Park Central Square was designed by renowned landscape architect Lawrence Halprin and his team in the early 1970s. The space was intended to be, in Halprin's words, "an active space for public assembly, devoted to pedestrians and their needs and comforts."
Even before it was remade by one of America's premiere modern landscape architects, Springfield's town square was the site of numerous historical episodes, including:
- Route 66
- The Butterfield Overland Stage Route
- The Shootout Between "Wild" Bill Hickok and Dave Tutt in 1865
- The Trail of Tears