[7][8] The current name refers to Lieutenant General José Arouche de Toledo Rendon, the first director of the Law School of the University of São Paulo and the Botanical Garden.

In 1881, following Arouche's request, the São Paulo City Council agreed to clear and flatten the area in order to "discipline the militiamen by brigades" and change its name to Milicianos Square.

According to the archives of the Caneca de Prata Bar, Largo do Arouche began to be frequented by city executives around the 1940s who were looking for more discreet places to meet men.

Later that year, the São Paulo City Hall, as part of the actions of the Management Goals Program, installed the LGBT Citizenship Center on Arouche Street.

[22][23] In May 2019, São Paulo City Hall began work on revitalizing Largo do Arouche, which included paving and leveling the floor, and installing new benches, drinking fountains and new lampposts.

[24][25][26] The site houses important sculptures by renowned artists, such as: The Girl and the Calf, a work by sculptor Luís Christophe, commissioned by Mayor Raimundo Duprat; the bust of Afonso d'Escragnolle Taunay, one of Brazil's greatest historians, designed by artist Claude Dunin; and Maternal Love, a sculpture featuring a dog and her puppy made by Frenchman Louis Eugéne Virion and acquired in the 1910s.

The São Paulo Academy of Letters, based in Largo do Arouche, honored the immortal Aureliano Leite with a bust made by Luís Morrone in the area inaugurated in 1979, two years after his death.