Ocala Historic Downtown Square | Ocala / Marion County Florida

Website

1 SE Broadway St. Ocala, Florida 34471

(352) 368-5550

Overview

Ocala's Historic Downtown Square is at the center of the historic district and within walking distance to shopping, dining, and nightlife. The Square is a gathering place for concerts and community events like First Friday Art Walks. The Downtown Square is also the perfect place to meet with friends to explore downtown including the nearby Ocala Downtown Market.

There is free live music on the square every Friday & Saturday, 6-8 pm, September-May (pending weather or special events).

For free parking everyday, park in the Downtown Parking Garage: 296 SE Broadway Street, Ocala, FL 34471.

Choose your experience that fits best from a variety of places to visit:

award winning breweries and wineries
speakeasies
a downtown hotel on the square
local boutiques
art gallery
candy shops and bakeries
restaurants (everything from fine dining to local food trucks)
coffee and tea shops
Do not miss the murals and the painted horse scattered throughout!

For more about downtown Ocala and a digital map, visit OcalaMainStreet.org

History

Ocala became the first town and a commercial, educational, and religious center in what would become Marion County. The town first experienced some settlement within its commercial center in the 1840s. The city and its downtown section continued steady growth into the last part of the twentieth century. This was in part due to a major downtown fire in 1883 that required a considerable portion of downtown to be rebuilt, thus resulting in and constituting downtown Ocala's second major period of development.

Both archival and field data indicate that the Florida Land Boom years of the 1920s were not of great impact to construction in the downtown area as in most other cities in Florida during the same period. The city's third substantial period of downtown development took place in the last part of the 1930s and early 1940s at the close of the Great Depression. Although downtown Ocala did see the completion of some commercial and industrial construction projects during this period and a substantial increase in new construction following World War II, a number of period buildings dating from the town's earlier settlement survive.