Church Square is one of the three early areas of land about which the early town developed and its boundaries probably began to be defined in 1679 when the first public building, a slave lodge, today known as the Old Supreme Court, was built on its southern side. In1701 the Dutch Reformed Church, known as the Groote Kerk, was erected on its southern side and, at a later stage, the eastern boundary was defined by a spinning factory. Originally the square served as the site of the slave market. It was declared a National Monument under old NMC legislation on 17 February 1961.