The oldest building original to the square is 510 East St. Julian Street, which dates to 1797.
[3] Named for the trustees of General James Oglethorpe's colony, the garden was the testing ground for a variety of experimental crops – including mulberry (for silkworms), hemp, and indigo – viewed as potential cash crops.
The square was once the site of massive New Year's Eve bonfires; these were discontinued in the 1950s.
Lane planned and initiated a project to close the fire lane, add North Carolina bluestone pavers, initiate the use of different paving materials, install water cisterns, and lastly install new walks, benches, lighting, and plantings.
They were restored in 1955 by preservationist Jim Williams (later the central character in John Berendt's 1994 book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), his first project of over fifty he undertook before his death in 1990[6] Each building below is in one of the eight blocks around the square composed of four residential "tything" blocks and four civic ("trust") blocks, now known as the Oglethorpe Plan.