In the mid-nineteenth century, the Kluuvi bay, and its marshy shoreline, used to reach past the current Railway Square to the north Esplanade. The draining of the square was undertaken in the 1870s because of the vigorous growth of both Helsinki and the rail traffic. The residential block occupying the site there was torn down and the square was completed in 1883.
     The handsome new square was a magnet for public construction projects. The construction of the Ateneum, designed by Theodor Höijer, nowadays known as the Finnish National Gallery, was completed in 1887. The Railway Square area, Mikonkatu street and Aleksanterinkatu street formed the city's new commercial centre. Several business complexes were built on

Mikonkatu street. The National Theatre, designed by Onni Tarjanne, was inaugurated in 1902. Later, a statue of the writer Aleksis Kivi was placed in front of it.
     Many kinds of activity took place in the Railway Station area. In the winter, there used to be an ice-skating rink; in summer, there was often a circus. Both demonstrations and parades alike were a cause for gathering at the square. There was trading in firewood and timber in the square up until the beginning of the twentieth century; after that, wooden containers, baskets and handicrafts were bought and sold. All this activity had to give way to traffic when the bus station took over the square in the 1920s.