Historically, it was known as Strastnaya Square (Russian: Страстная площадь) before being renamed for Alexander Pushkin in 1937.

At the center of the square is a statue of Pushkin, funded by public subscription and unveiled by Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoyevsky in 1880.

In 1950, Joseph Stalin had the statue moved to the other side of the Tverskaya Street, where the historic Passion Monastery had formerly stood.

On 5 December 1965, Glasnost Meeting, the first spontaneous public political demonstration in the Soviet Union after the Second World War, took place here.

In January 1990, the first McDonald's restaurant in Soviet Union and largest one in the world at that time opened here.