Best City Square

[bocian]

Well, taking backroads CAN be rewarding, even if it's in Indiana. I drove to the East Coast from Illinois a few weeks ago, and I took the backroads through most of Indiana. When I came to downtown ANGOLA (small city in N/E Indiana), I was shocked (positively) to see its great downtown city square. It was not car-free, but it had a nice monument in the middle of a small park, roundabout, plenty of benches to sit on, and awesome local businesses in the square.
What I'm getting at is this: the idea of a square in the middle of a city is nothing new: most European and South American cities, for example, have one, usually in the middle of their historic downtowns. However, in North America the "Business Districts" lack pedestrian scale, contain more parking lots than anything else, and are basically unattractive and uninviting.
So, what's your favorite downtown square in North America? (Hard question, I know, there aren't many around..)

Downtown ANGOLA, INDIANA:
www.commercialindiana.com/images/steubenco.jpg

 

[Greenescapist]

Although it's not a small town, Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA is really nice. I had the day off yesterday and walked around there to check out some used bookstores and record shops. Great people watching, plenty of benches, incredible architecture and public transportation.

For small towns, some places that I can think of now and thought had nice squares or little downtowns were Camden, ME; Wiscasset, ME; Lexington, VA; Lexington, MA; Gorham, ME.

 

[Chet]

East Troy Wisconsin has a great city square. Too bad its a godforsaken little trap.

 

[bocian]

Harvard Square in Cambridge is great not beacause of how it looks like, beacause it is too small to be a "real" city square, but precisely because of the qualities you mentioned, such as plenty of people hanging around, places to shop and visit, etc.

Still, it's more of a smaller scale shopping mall for upscale people than a city square (which should also contain the city hall and PUBLIC TOILETS).

Now, to think about it, I'd say that downtown city square in Bloomington, Indiana is not so bad.
Indiana... who would have thought???

 

[biscuit]

You'll find that a lot of towns in the south have town squares. Two that I'm familure with are in Pendleton, SC - a pretty and vibrent little village next door to Clemson. And Abbeville, SC which was featured in the Julia Roberts flick Sleeping with the Enemy, and the place that tried to hire me as county planner last year (but I needed some time away from small towns).

 

[Miles Ignatius]

My Vote

Fort Collins, Colorado, specifically "Old Town"...there's some nice shots of it on the CofC Website....



Choose "pictures."

It's a great place to hang out...lots of good restaurants and is the site of the "Colorado Brewers Festival" in June....I like it too, as, at least for now, it runs on a much more civilized pace than Metro Denver does.....

 

[Jeff]

Rittenhouse Square in Philly ...

 

[pete-rock]

There are lots of small downtown squares in Midwest towns, some great, some not so great. Woodstock, IL, Spencer (I think), IN, and Bloomington, IN come to mind.

 

[BKM]

Great Topic!

Some of my favorites include:

Market Square in downtown Knoxville, TN. A classic market square. Haven't seen it in over ten years, but even in a downtown as sleepy as Knoxville's, it was a nice focal point for the city. I even like the oppressive bureaucratic towers of the Tennessee Valley Authority looking over the one end-architecture should be honest

Union Square in downtown San Francisco-I like the newest version a lot-with the exception that the balance between hardscape and greenery is skewed a bit too much to the former. A very active city square.

Sonoma Town Hall Square-a classic. Unfortunately, the great market system CAN be destructive, and downtown Sonoma is only good for buying teddy bears and overpriced tourist stuff.

A better example (gentrified but still somehow more real): Healdsburg, California. North of Santa Rosa. A fantastic town square with gigantic old trees, a fine collection of yuppie boutiques, a brew pub, great restaurants, and its not only for yuppies-Healdsburg has a great passagiato (sp) for the Mexican-American community.

 

[H]

The Square.

The Square.

Oxford Mississippi.

Home of Square Books, and many fine restaurants and bars.

http://www.oxfordms.com/

http://www.squarebooks.com/front.php

 

[H]

And all the squares in Savannah. Especially the one with Vinnie Van GoGo’ s Pizza on it.

As my wife put it…

“I think they put drugs in the pizza, you just cant stop eating it…”

 

[Cardinal]

Huston is right about Savanna. Pete-Rock forgot to mention that Woodstock, IL is where the movie "Groundhog Day" was filmed, so most of you should have an idea of what that one looks like. Lebanon, TN has a nice square, though they had paved too much of it and the stores were struggling at the time I was there.

 

[JNA]

Jasper, Indiana
Boonville, Indiana
Princeton, Indiana
and many other smaller towns.

 

[LouisvilleSlugger]

Although it's not a small town, Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA is really nice. I had the day off yesterday and walked around there to check out some used bookstores and record shops. Great people watching, plenty of benches, incredible architecture and public transportation.

aaah, Harvard Sq. and Brattle Sq., those are some great squares!!! great for people watching. I miss that area of Cambridge. I am also fond of Fountain Sq. in Cinci and Pioneer Sq. in Portland.

 

[donk]

Saint John, NB has a few squares. the nicest one is Kings Square Uptown. It has a gazebo for a band, lots of mature trees and is fronted on one side by a restored 1890's theatre and 1920's skyscraper (15 stories). On another side it is framed by teh City Market building and on another side it is framed by the original fire station and loyalist cemetery. it also houses a statue of benedict arnold.

I guess I should put a plug in for our town square too.

Is is relatively nice, just not too busy. Unfortunately it is where most of our dilaudid addicts hang out and cause troubles.

 

[ilikefish0]

Jackson Sqaure, New Orleans

St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Brewery, museums, French Market, artists, fortune tellers, magicians, bands

They even put back the benches.

 

[Wannaplan?]

The Diag, Ann Arbor, Michigan

 

[boiker]

There are lots of small downtown squares in Midwest towns, some great, some not so great. Woodstock, IL, Spencer (I think), IN, and Bloomington, IN come to mind.

goto your dvd collection and pull out groundhog day... welcome to woodstock, il

 

[gkmo62u]

Washington Square Park in NewYork.

Best.

 

[Greenescapist]

Washington Square Park in NewYork.

Best.

....square in NYC for buying drugs. Washington Square Park is nice, but I've never had so many guys come up to me and whisper "weeeeeed, weeeeed are you looking for some?"

 

[Super Amputee Cat]

Well, taking backroads CAN be rewarding, even if it's in Indiana. I drove to the East Coast from Illinois a few weeks ago, and I took the backroads through most of Indiana. When I came to downtown ANGOLA (small city in N/E Indiana), I was shocked (positively) to see its great downtown city square. It was not car-free, but it had a nice monument in the middle of a small park, roundabout, plenty of benches to sit on, and awesome local businesses in the square.
What I'm getting at is this: the idea of a square in the middle of a city is nothing new: most European and South American cities, for example, have one, usually in the middle of their historic downtowns. However, in North America the "Business Districts" lack pedestrian scale, contain more parking lots than anything else, and are basically unattractive and uninviting.
So, what's your favorite downtown square in North America? (Hard question, I know, there aren't many around..)

Downtown ANGOLA, INDIANA:
www.commercialindiana.com/images/steubenco.jpg

Hey! I was just in downtown Angola this weekend. Very nice town. Can't believe they have two movie houses right in the square both still in operation (The Brokaw and the Strand)

If you ever stop there, try the Pizza at Greek's. It's delicious!

 

[Cirrus]

Dupont Circle, DC

 

[tsc]

....square in NYC for buying drugs. Washington Square Park is nice, but I've never had so many guys come up to me and whisper "weeeeeed, weeeeed are you looking for some?"

hmmm .....been there a lot and never been approached.

I love the open spaces of Boston though.... Cambridge is nice... and there is one on the North Side... forget the name.

 

[SW MI Planner]

Hey, Angola is only 13 miles south of me, and we go there quite frequently. You guys should have called me and we could go for a beer (ok, or a root beer for me, but anyway).

 

[Super Amputee Cat]

Hey, Angola is only 13 miles south of me...

What city?

 

[SW MI Planner]

Coldwater, Michigan. I69 cuts through the east end of town - we're exit #10

Speaking regarding public squares - we don't really have one per se, but we do have four corners park, kind of in the middle of downtown where US-12 and Business 27 intersect.

 

[BKM]

May I present a future "Great Town Square" in Downtown Vacaville, under construction now

http://solanolibrary.com/Vacaville/VacLib.html

 

[Gedunker]

Monument Circle

Gotta put a plug in for Monument Circle in Indianapolis -- perhaps one of the greatest public spaces without the reputation. Truly a circle, the visual centerpiece is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument commemorating Hoosier Volunteers in the Civil War. Heroic art to be sure, but very successful (except when they string the stoopid Christmas lights from it make it look like an X-mas Tree. Blechhhhhhh!!)

The original plan called for the Governor's Mansion to be built on the circle, but the First Lady objected to hanging her laundry to dry smack in the middle of the city and state. Wise lady, that one.

Indiana generally has a lot of successful town squares, including some nice ones here in southern Indiana, such as Corydon (Harrison County); Salem (Washington County); and, my favorite, Paoli (Orange County), with its marvelous Greek Revival courthouse and hillside setting.

My Indiana city lost its town park (never had a true town square) to Interstate 64 and an Ohio River bridge.

 

[The Irish One]

Grosvenor Square aka Eisenhower Platz

I came across this site that has panoramas of 15 +/- N. American town squares and plazas.http://www.virtualguidebooks.com/ThematicLists/Plazas.html

 

[renell]

Grand-Place, Brussels.

http://www.ecomod.net/images/Grandplace.jpg

 

[Kathie_WE]

The town centers of SouthCentral, PA started with some very nice town centers including Lancaster, Gettsburg, York, Hanover, Abbottstown, Elizabethtown, Lititz, and Red Lion. Too bad sprawl and too many small governments have made the new communities around less then wonderful places.

CHEERS!

Kathie