The expansion of the port meant a radical change in the city. In 1904, a building for the Junta de Obras del Puerto (Port Works Board) was constructed on the quay, which led to the drying out of the boat dock, giving rise to what would later become the Plaza de los Héroes de Cavite, next to the Palacio Consistorial.

By 1915 the space was created and marked the difference between the leisure and commercial areas of the port. In 1923 its ornamentation was completed with the monument to the Heroes of Cavite and Cuba, the work of the sculptor Julio González Pola, made by public subscription. The tribute to the fallen in the Disaster of '98 was placed in Cartagena because it was the port of departure of the Cuban squadron and the place of origin of a large part of the contingents of troops.

In 1926 and 1930 the buildings of the Board of Works of the Port and Customs that surround the square were completed. Over the years, the design of its landscaping has varied, but two botanical elements have always remained: the palm trees and the rosebushes. The gardens also contain a protected endemism, the fan palm, considered to be the only palm tree in Europe. . It is distributed along the Spanish Mediterranean coast, growing naturally in the mountains and hills of Cartagena.

Since the 1990s, the square and its surroundings have been remodelled as a pedestrian area.