Named for the graceful park at its center, Union Square is a diverse urban setting - home to art galleries, artist studios, H.L.

One of the several public golf courses is nearby in Carroll Park, also home to the historic Mount Clare Mansion of 1754 built by Charles Carroll, Barrister, (1723-1783), next to the newly renovated Montgomery Park office building, formerly the store and regional warehouse of the Montgomery Ward & Company, famous for their catalog orders and sales in the last century.

Access to several transportation directions are minutes away with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard running in an arch around the west side of downtown with its connection to the Jones Falls Expressway, (Interstate 83) going north towards the Baltimore-Harrisburg Expressway, the main East Coast highway, north to south is Interstate 95 with its Fort McHenry Tunnel and the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel cutting under the harbor and port of the Patapsco River and the commuter rail service MARC Train beginning in the northeastern corner of the state at Havre de Grace at the head of the Chesapeake Bay down to Baltimore and onto Washington, D.C. 40 miles away.

A 2.5-acre (10,000 m2) public space at the west side of the neighborhood, Union Square Park dates from 1847 and contains the community's signature structure, a Greek Revival Pavilion (1850) with fluted iron columns.

Throughout the year, there are many impromptu events in the Square, including neighborhood dinners, outdoor movies, tag sales, Easter egg hunts, Halloween pumpkin carvings, and various other parties.

A vital part of the community, Hollins Market was built in the Italianate style in 1838 at the east side of the neighborhood and is Baltimore's oldest home to food merchants.

An annual event - the Sowebohemian Arts Festival - is held in the streets around Hollins Market on the Sunday afternoon of the Memorial Day weekend.

The Union Square-Hollins Market Historic District is a dense area of rowhouses and commercial structures located approximately 10 blocks west of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

The remainder of the district developed after 1830 mainly as housing for workers in nearby industries and consist of low scale, two and three story brick vernacular dwellings while larger, high-style rowhouses surround the park.

Begun during the influx of English, Irish and German immigration of the 1830s, the Union Square / Hollins Market Historic District is a dense area of rowhouses that includes Federal, Greek Revival and Italianate architectural styles.

To the west, Union Square Park contains an ornate fountain and Greek Revival pavilion, and forms one of the two open spaces preserved in the neighborhood.

Across town, next door to the Shot Tower (1828), Smith's principal residence is restored as the Circa 1790 Home, open to the public, and maintained by the Women's Civic League.

Upon the death of the childless Smith, the villa with twenty-six acres passed to his wife, the former Mary Blaikley Stith (1750–1822) and then to a nephew, merchant and privateer John Donnell.

Three sons of John Donnell leased grounds around the park, laid out specifications for houses, and graded and paved streets bordering the Square in the 1840s.

Dubbed “Millionaire’s Row,” the portion of Stricker Street facing the Square featured the Italianate residences of bankers, investors, and factory owners.

Less ornate homes were put up in groups on side and alley streets, but all shared many identical features such as cornices, marble steps, and iron work.

Architect John F. Hoss designed the iron Greek-style pavilion with fluted columns in 1850 – it covers a natural spring that was once accessible by steps and, at one time, supplied water to the B&O Railroad.

Willow Brook, the estate house, was acquired in 1864 by Emily Caton McTavish, granddaughter of Charles Carroll (a signer of the Declaration of Independence), and daughter of General Winfield “Old Fuss and Feathers” Scott (a hero in the War of 1812 and unsuccessful Whig presidential candidate in 1852).

Willow Brook's interior oval drawing room had long enjoyed national acclaim and, still intact, it was moved to the Baltimore Museum of Art for public and permanent display.

Over the years, an assortment of West Baltimore butchers, various European and Asian immigrants with vendor traditions, and African-American merchants have all sold and purchased meats, farm-fresh produce, baked goods, and home-produced wares.

With period furniture, his restored second-floor office, and backyard gazebo, the H. L. Mencken House opened as part of the City Life Museums and a center for theatrical, literary and musical events.

Although the City Life Museums closed in 1997, a $3 million donation from retired naval commander Max Hency allowed the organization to begin renovating the house, and it opened to the public in 2019, though only by prior reservation.

The excitement continued in 1997 as the community celebrated the sesquicentennial of Union Square with a re-dedication of the park including the placement of a stone tablet commemorating the event at the foot of one of the pavilion columns.