What it is
The Square was laid out as the centre of the town, and for many years the North Island Main Trunk railway ran straight across it: a station stood here from 1875 until it moved to Main Street in 1890, and the last passenger train crossed the Square in 1964 before the tracks were lifted.
The Hopwood Clock Tower, completed in 1957 with a gift from Arthur Hopwood, replaced an earlier tower demolished after the 1942 Wairarapa earthquakes and is lit at night. Around the lawns stand the marble statue of the Rangitāne chief Te Peeti Te Awe Awe from 1907, the 1902 Coronation Memorial Fountain, the war memorial, carved posts by John Bevan Ford from 1990 honouring the name Te Marae o Hine, and an Art Deco building from 1936.
Getting there by bus
The city's bus terminal, Main Street Bus Hub (MSBH), is on the south side of the Square, about 160 to 190 metres away. Platforms 2 and 3 serve the urban routes 101 to 108, and Platform 1 the regional and connector services, including routes 114, 225, 302 (Feilding Connector), 401, 402, 501 and the Taihape-Palmerston North bus.
More urban routes stop nearby on Fitzherbert Avenue at Kmart (stop A105) and Toyworld (stop A107), about 250 to 290 metres away, and route 104 at 38 Rangitikei St (stop A109).
