Market Square

This Square, originally a two-block area which included what is now called the Courthouse Square, has been at the center of Fredericksburg since the city's founding in 1846. The area was still heavily forested when the town's Vereins Kirche was built in the center of Main street in 1847. The octagonal building served as a community church, meeting place, school, and refuge from possible Indian attacks. A county jail was built on the Square in 1852. In 1856 a public schoolhouse was constructed and the school classes moved out of the Vereins Kirche. In 1911 the schoolhouse was converted to serve as headquarters for the volunteer fire department. The Vereins Kirche, demolished in 1897, was reconstructed in 1934-35 as a pioneer memorial, serving as the county's first museum (1936) and library (1939). As part of its centennial celebration, the State of texas erected a monument on Market Square in honor of Baron Ottfried Hans Freiherr Von Meusebach, whose colonization efforts led to the founding of Fredericksburg. In 1987 the city purchased the property from the school district. The Market Square has served as a gathering place for special community activities and has remained a focal point of the city.

Market Square is a historical marker in Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, dedicated in 1990. It is one of 108 historical markers documented in Gillespie County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 189 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 30.2751, -98.8747 near Fredericksburg. The nearest cataloged historic site is Fredericksburg Memorial Library (historic place), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Gillespie County Courthouse (Library) (1882), Gillespie County Courthouse, and Gillespie County.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5171010079. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.