The original plats of Waterloo, filed in 1854, labeled this block as a Public Square, Block 38 in the Village of Waterloo, East.

When Waterloo was chosen as the county seat of Black Hawk County, it was originally planned that the courthouse would be located on this site, privately owned by B. M. Cooley. After a series of political maneuvers, however, the courthouse was finally built on 10th Street in Waterloo, East.

The status of Block 38 was clouded for some years. Heir J. L. Cooley, who claimed it as part of the B. M. Cooley estate, challenged the assumption that it was municipal land in 1902. The court found in favor of the city, which then paid Cooley $1,000 for a quitclaim to the block.

Lincoln Park is an important part of the downtown Waterloo landscape, an open space that survives as a vestige of pioneer Waterloo in the midst of a modern city.