The square originally existed as an open space in the center of town that was made into a park in 1934.

The Wyoming plan was to establish a George Washington Memorial Park in as many communities as possible.

The organizing committee, which included Olaus Murie, raised the requisite $150 in public donations to landscape the park.

Jackson applied for and received $3092 from the New Deal Civil Works Administration, which allowed the town to organize a land transfer allowing the sole building on the square property, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Hall, to move to another site.

In 1953 the local Rotary Club built an arch of elk antlers at the southwest corner of the park.