Downtown Girard is built around a traditional courthouse square with many nice turn-of-the-century buildings. The statue of the deer and a marker on the square commemorate the founding of the city on the site where Dr. Charles H. Strong, the founder, killed a deer. Girard was home to the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason and also the "little blue books" of classic literature. Many of the downtown buildings have bronze plaques giving a brief history of the site.

A Huey helicopter is the centerpiece of a courthouse square VFW memorial to the veterans from Girard. The huge (30' x 60') flag by the American Legion post on Highway 47 is part of another veterans memorial.