In both form and architectural quality, Canton’s square ranks high among Mississippi’s courthouse squares, rivaled only by those at Oxford, Holly Springs, and Lexington. Two-story brick commercial buildings enclosed the square by 1890, with only a few later additions. Particularly noteworthy is N. Liberty Street’s row of two-story Italianate buildings with such lively stylistic elements as corbeled brickwork, metal window hoods, and cast-iron storefronts selected from catalogs and shipped by rail from foundries as close as Jackson and as far as Ohio.
Three nineteenth-century buildings anchor the square. At the southeast corner are the old First National Bank (c. 1893; 103 S. Liberty) and the Maloney Building (c. 1896; 200–210 W. Center) and at the southwest corner, the Gowdy Building (1854; 101 N. Union). This last, the square’s tallest building and one of the oldest, is a rare three-story antebellum structure, built as a Masonic Hall by Bass and Stewart. Two architect-designed buildings are the limestone-clad old Canton Exchange Bank at 127 W. Peace (1924, N. W. Overstreet) and the stark Spanish Colonial Revival former post office at 175 N. Union (1915, Oscar Wenderoth, Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury). The Buttross Building’s storefront (1910; 115 W. Peace) dates to a 1950s modernization, its vivid turquoise panels highlighting a deeply recessed entrance flanked by faceted showcase windows.
Early hotels emphasize the historic importance of the railroad. The two-story Canton (Southern) Hotel (c. 1895; 305 W. Peace) probably catered to railroad men, and the galleried two-story Trolio Hotel on the square (c. 1869; 133–147 N. Union) accommodated businessmen and lawyers. Fire destroyed the Trolio’s third story in 1930. The red brick Illinois Central depot (c. 1890; 108 Depot Drive) was rehabilitated in the 1990s as a train museum and offices for the Main Street program.
As an early success story in Mississippi’s preservation movement, in 1982 the square was among the first historic districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi and has experienced only one demolition since its listing.