The Church Street Marketplace is an uncovered outdoor pedestrian shopping and dining mall made of four blocks of Church Street, between Main and Pearl streets. The idea for it began in 1958 as part of urban renewal discussions.
In the summer of 1971, a one-day street fair on the four blocks drew about 15,000 people. A week-long fair followed in 1972, with traffic rerouted to the parallel streets. The mall was built in 1980 and 1981 to a design by Carr, Lynch Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
It has about 86 storefronts. The American Planning Association named it one of America's Great Public Spaces for 2008.