Railroad Square Art Park is no longer Tallahassee's best-kept art secret. Today, Railroad Square Art Park is home to the shops, studios and galleries of nearly 50 local artists who create their works alongside the eclectic mix of other tenants, including a rock-climbing gym, a belly dance studio, a yoga studio, a karate school, a community theatre, a Buddhist center, and a cafe uniquely housed in a real railroad caboose. When "circling The Square" you will find a myriad of brightly painted metal warehouses that quietly hold secret treasures within.

But, come on a First Friday Gallery Hop evening, and you will see many of those secret treasures on display. The warehouse spaces open and the Park is vibrant with 1,000 - 3,000 art-seeking patrons of all walks of life. The gallery hop on the first Friday of each month is the best opportunity to be introduced to the exciting and rich diversity of art within the Park. Visitors can meet the artists and gallery owners, pick up a business card or brochure, buy some art, or make appointments for future visits. Renting nearly 100,000 square feet of commercial space, Railroad Square Art Park boasts more artists-per-capita than any other spot in Florida.

Railroad Square encompasses 10 acres in downtown Tallahassee, the previous site of the historic McDonnell lumber yard, which became the Downtown Industrial Park in the 1960's under owner William J. Boynton, Jr. In the mid-1970s his daughter, Nan Boynton, re-envisioned the park as a mecca for artist's studios and galleries and began to manifest this plan, replacing industrial tenants with regional artists looking for inexpensive studio spaces, including Florida State University's studio artist program. The current owners, Lily Boynton Kaye and Adam Boynton Kaye, have continued to keep their mother's dream alive.

In the center of Tallahassee, Railroad Square Art Park is within ten-minutes walking distance of both Florida A&M (FAMU) and Florida State University (FSU), and Florida's State Capitol Buildings are just one mile away. Railroad Avenue, the road on which one enters the Park, is a business artery between the two universities and home to the historic Amtrak train station. Railroad Square also borders the exciting Gaines Street corridor redevelopment project.

Over the past thirty years, many renowned artists have rented studios in Railroad Square, as well as other artisans and craftspeople. Railroad Square houses studios of art professors and graduates from both universities, FSU's Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) student studios, as well as self-taught and outsider folk artists and fine crafters. Academy Award-nominated film director Victor Nunez has an editing facility at Railroad Square. Many of the spaces are working studios and only open to the public on occasion. Others are full-time galleries and shops. The Art Park has fair-traded Asian-Island imports in one such store and vintage/retro goods in another. There is an art supplies shop and a knitting supplies shop. Soon there will be an American fine crafts gallery, and by the end of 2007, a metalsmith teaching studio will open in the Art Park.

Railroad Square's time has come. In a neighborhood destined for positive redevelopment, the Art Park will continue to show leadership in the creative arts. Railroad Square Art Park is a place where students and working artists coexist, where the community has the opportunity to experience culture and art-making first-hand, and where anyone looking for relaxing and enjoyable entertainment in Tallahassee will want to come back again and again.