Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail
THE OLD COURTHOUSE SQUARE
Location:The city block bordered on the north by Silver Springs Blvd., on the east by SE 1st Ave., on the south by SE 1st Street and on the west by S. Magnolia Avenue.
County: Marion
City: Ocala
Description: Designated as a Public Square in the original Ocala plat of 1846, this location was the site of Marion County’s first permanent courthouse built in 1851. It was a two-story frame building of Colonial design. The second courthouse was erected on this site in 1884, a two-story brick cube. Public dissatisfaction caused a third courthouse with more adequate space to be built in 1906. It was of Roman design with a clock dome and veneered walls of Indiana sandstone. In 1965, when public efforts to save it failed, it was demolished. This site was given by Marion County to the City of Ocala in a property exchange, becoming a city park, thus retaining its function as a Public Square as planned by the city’s founders.
Sponsors: THE MARION COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE