Plaza de la Armas

Plaza de la Armas

Plaza de la Constitucion

The Parade Ground

The Parade

Colonial Town Plaza

Holmes Ammidown

1598

Continuous

1812-1813

1879

1914

1921

1923

1975

2011

2018

2020

This feature of Spanish Colonial city planning is for a centralized meeting place of the local citizenry.

In 1573, King Philip II of Spain issued ordinances titled the “Leyes de Las Indies” which gave directions for the layouts of all new cities in the New World. The ordinances stated that seacoast towns, such as St. Augustine, must begin with a main plaza which should be located near the harbor. These “Leyes de Las Indies” shaped the way St. Augustine was laid out, most importantly, by building the central plaza.

Built in 1598, the Plaza de la Armas is the oldest public square in the United States. An earlier plaza was in roughly the same place in 1586 when the Drake raid put the whole town to the torch. The beginnings of modern St. Augustine were laid out in 1598.

The Plaza was originally intended for government, religion, military and a general public space. The western end of the Plaza contains the Governor’s House, where state officials would often appear on the balcony overlooking the Plaza. The Cathedral Basilica and the Trinity Episcopal are located across from each other on the Plaza. The Plaza was also used for public meetings, markets, and as a military parade ground. On one map, the Plaza is even called “The Parade Ground,” due to the frequent parades of the United States troops through the Plaza after Florida's transfer. At the conclusion of WWI and WWII, the Plaza was a site for celebration, dancing, and patriotic showcases complete with fireworks.

The thirty-foot-tall Constitución monument located in the western section of the Plaza was erected in 1812-1813 to celebrate Spain’s short-lived constitutional government, which only lasted until 1814. From the monument, came the current name, renamed at the tme.

The Old Slave Market, also known as the Old Spanish Market, the Old Market, and the City Market, is located in the eastern section of the Plaza, near where the harbor was before the Bridge of Lions was built. 

In the 1870s or early 1880s, one Holmes Ammidown did a public work of improving the Plaza for the use and pleasure of the populous.

Separated from the rest of the Plaza by Charlotte Street at the eastern end of the Plaza stands a statue of Juan Ponce de León. Although Ponce de Leon was buried in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Plaza contains a replica of the statue that marks his grave. This Memorial was erected in 1923.

Four artillery pieces are located in the Plaza, dating to the Mexican War and Civil War periods. Other markers or memorials to military men have/are in the Plaza including a monument first erected in 1946 to those who died in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam wars, the Confederate Monument, and a Monument to the Patriots imprisoned at the Castillo during the American Revolution.

The gazebo was erected in 1914 and has been used as a venue for public events. In 1921 the Anderson Fountain was added. At some point, the monument to Felix Vales Morales was added.

In 1970, the Plaza was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Five years later, archaeologists reconstructed the Spanish Public Well, which was originally built in the Plaza during the First Spanish Period. In 1995, a second Spanish well was found within the confines of the Plaza.

In the 2010s, two monument to the Foot Soldiers and others of the Civil Rights Movement and a Memorial to Andrew Young were added to the Plaza.

The Plaza continues to be used as a public space, most notably as the center of festivities for the Night of Lights celebration, which occurs each November through January. Public marchers or parades also begin at, end at, or go through or around the Plaza.

City of St. Augustine

The Plaza is open free to the public.

Plaza de la Constitucion
1 Cathedral Place
St. Augustine, FL 32084

The Constitucion Obelisk is located in the Plaza.

The following books, articles, websites, and photographers were used to find the above photographs or illustrations:

Photograph 1 (pre-1887): Bowen, Beth Rogero, and the St. Augustine Historical Society. St. Augustine in the Gilded Age. Charleston, SC: Acadia Publishing, 2008.

Photograph 2 (1888): Wittemann, A. A Souvenir of St. Augustine. New York: A. Wittemann, 1888.

Photograph 3 (1904): Art Work of Florida. Part 1, 5, 7, or 11. Introduction by George F. Fairbanks. Racine, WI: Art Photogravure Co., 1904.

Photograph 4 (c.1920): St. Augustine. Kansas City, MO: Van Noy-Interstate, c.1920s.

Photograph 5 (2015): Owens, Katherine. "Plaza during Nights of Lights." January 28, 2015.

Photograph 6 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Plaza de la Constitución." July 18, 2025.

Photograph 7 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Plaza de la Constitución." July 18, 2025.

Photograph 8 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "Plaza de la Constitución." July 18, 2025.

Photograph 9 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "War Monument for: WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, and Afghanistan." October 20, 2025.

Photograph 10 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "Foot Soldiers Monument." October 20, 2025.

Photograph 11 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "POWs of the American Revolution." October 20, 2025.

The following books, articles, and/or websites were used to find information about this location:

Adams, William R., and Paul L. Weaver, III. Historic Places of St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Visitor’s Guide. St. Augustine, FL: Southern Heritage Press, 1993.

Adams, William R. St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Historical Guide. Pineapple Press, 2009.

Bloomfield, Max. Bloomfield’s Illustrated Historical Guide, Embracing an Account of the Antiquities of St. Augustine, Florida (with map). To Which is Added a Condensed Guide of the St. John’s, Ocklawaha, Halifax, and Indian Rivers. St. Augustine, FL: Max Bloomfield, 1884.

Gordon, Elsbeth “Buff.” Walking St. Augustine: An Illustrated Guide and Pocket History to America’s Oldest City. Univ. of Florida Press, 2015.

Lee, Howard. The Story of Old St. Augustine. St. Augustine, FL: Florida Souvenir Company, 1971.

Murray, James R. “The St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument.” HMdb.org: Historical Marker Database. October 9, 2019. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=74381.

Rajtar, Steve, and Kelly Goodman. A Guide to Historic St. Augustine, Florida. 1^st edition. The History Press, 2007.

Reynolds, Charles B. The Standard Guide: St. Augustine, East Coast, Indian River and Lake Worth. Published by the author, 1895.

Waterbury, Jean Parker, ed. The Oldest City: St. Augustine, Saga of Survival. St. Augustine, FL: St. Augustine Historical Society, 1983.

Visit St. Augustine. “Plaza de la Constitucion.” https://www.visitstaugustine.com/thing-to-do/plaza-de-la-constitucion.

Flagler College’s Rare Books, Floridiana & Institutional Repository are neither the original nor current copyright owner for the photographs. Please contact the publisher or source cited for each photograph to obtain a copy and/or permission to reproduce these items.

This record was last updated on October 15, 2025.