It is located in the second row of the city's five rows of squares, on Barnard Street and West President Street, and was laid out in 1733 as one of the first four squares.

The oldest building on the square is Telfair Academy, at 121 Barnard Street, which dates to 1818–1820.

[1] Originally named St. James Square, in honor of a green space in London, and marked one of the most fashionable neighborhoods in early Savannah,[2] it was renamed in 1883 to honor the Telfair family.

The square also contains tributes to the Girl Scouts of the USA, founded by Savannahian Juliette Gordon Low, and to the chambered nautilus.

Three of the blocks have no notable buildings, according to a study by the Historic Preservation Department of the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission,[5] hence only five are inventoried below.