The square was originally called the Place du Château d'Eau, named after a huge fountain designed by Pierre-Simon Girard and built on the site in 1811.

[6] The Paris City Council allocated twelve million euros for renovating the square in 2010, and the project began the same year.

[6] After terrorist attacks against France in January 2015, crowds gathered in the square to mourn and express solidarity against the threat of Islamic extremism.

[9] In 2016, the Nuit debout movement, which opposed the labour reforms of the El Khomri law, began from an occupation of the Place de la République.

[10] In April 2019, Yellow Vest demonstrators clashed with authorities in the square in their 23rd week of protests and dissatisfaction over President Macron's government, the weekend following the Notre-Dame de Paris fire.

[11][12][13] At the center of the Place de la République is a 31 feet (9.4 m) bronze statue of Marianne, the personification of the French Republic, "holding aloft an olive branch in her right hand and resting her left on a tablet engraved with Droits de l'homme (the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen).

[16] Dalou's statue, which was completely different in style, impressed the jury so much that it was decided in early 1880 to erect his monument to the Republic on the adjacent Place de la Nation.