The City of St. Augustine Plaza is the central fixture of the urban plan for the city, which was drafted by the Spanish Governor Gonzalo Mendez y Canzo about the year 1596 and then approved by royal authorities in Madrid, completing the first urban plan of any city in the United States.
The Plaza is situated in the central part of the 22-block colonial town plan, whose outlines and streets remain largely intact more than four centuries later. Civic life in St. Augustine has swirled about the Plaza ever since. At its corners rest the Cathedral and Government House, representing the two great institutions of Spanish society.
The monuments within and about the Plaza represent the long history and traditions of the city. The Constitution Monument (Monumento de la Constitucion) is one of the oldest civic monuments in the United States and represents an important episode in the history of Spain, St. Augustine's "Mother Country," and in the colonial history of Florida itself. Like, the Civil War Monument and World War I Victory Memorial Flagpole and Monument represent significant episodes in American history.
Colonial St. Augustine Foundationreceived a Florida Dept. of State matching funds grant to restore three historic monuments that stand in and adjacent to St. Augustine's historic 16th-century Plaza. The immediate threat to all three monuments resides in their continuing deterioration, which must, sooner or later, be addressed and arrested.
