Plaza de Roma also served as the Plaza Mayor during the Spanish colonial era. As the center of the capital city of Spain’s possession in the east, the Plaza Mayor (as it was then called) hosted various public events in the city, even bullfights (yes, bullfights were actually being held in Manila before)! Eventually, Governor-General Rafael Maria de Aguilar converted the plaza into a garden in the year 1797.

At the center of Plaza de Roma is a monument to Charles IV of Spain which was erected in 1824 in his honor for having sent the first batch of smallpox vaccine to the Philippines. Originally a bronze statue erected on a pedestal, the monument got itself an additional touch when the fountain around it was added in 1886.

In 1901, with the start of American rule, it was renamed Plaza McKinley in honor of US President William McKinley who was instrumental in bringing the Philippines to American rule. For a brief time during the Second World War, it was renamed by the Japanese-occupied Philippine Government as Plaza Malaki.

It was renamed again in 1961 to its present name, Plaza Roma, in honor of Rome and the College of Cardinals based in the city on the occasion of the elevation of then Manila Archbishop Rufino J. Santos as cardinal, the first Filipino to be elevated to such a position in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. In recognition of this, Rome also named one of its squares as Piazzale Manila.

In 1961, the monument was replaced with a monument dedicated to the Filipino martyr priests Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora (GomBurZa). It was a curious choice considering the Gomburza priests in the lifetime were opposed to the Roman Catholic hierarchy at the time. Nevertheless in 1981, the Gomburza monument was subsequently relocated to the site fronting the National Art Gallery Building of the National Museum. The Charles IV monument was reinstated under the Intramuros Administration.