The designation was bestowed by World Atlas:
Woodstock served as the filming location for the 1993 Bill Murray film Groundhog Day, but the downtown square (added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982) carries older history than the film. The 1889 Woodstock Opera House, built originally as the city hall, library, and fire department, is one of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the Midwest. Orson Welles made his American professional directorial debut on its stage in 1934 with the Todd Theatre Festival (Hamlet, Trilby, and Tsar Paul); the stage was formally dedicated to him in 2013. Paul Newman, Tom Bosley, and Geraldine Page all worked the same boards as members of the Woodstock Players in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The 1857 Old McHenry County Courthouse anchors the western side of the square, and the bronze plaque on the Cass Street sidewalk that reads “Bill Murray Stepped Here” marks the puddle-step scene from the film.
Saturday mornings from May through October bring the Woodstock Farmers’ Market to the square, a producers-only operation: every item, from seasonal produce to farm meat, candy, and craft beer, comes directly from the grower or maker. A few blocks east, the Roscoe Woodstock Antique Mall covers 35,000 square feet across two levels with about 70 dealers, one of the larger antique destinations in northern Illinois.
