Though central squares and public parks are common in the Midwest, Kenmare is the only known instance in North Dakota of a centrally located town square park and commons surrounded by commercial businesses. The park was part of a plat filed in 1897 by the Minnesota Loan and Trust Company. When the titleholder tried to re-plat and sell off parcels of the park in 1905, local citizens obtained an injunction, which was reaffirmed as a permanent ruling in 1931, that this block-sized parcel must forever remain a public square, park, and common. The park is organized around gravel paths and informal landscape plantings.