Marietta Square awakened in stages Tuesday morning as it does each day, to the hourly call of chimes from the nearby First United Methodist Church.

The cafes came to life at 7, filling the air with the rich aroma of coffee. At 8, most government offices opened for business. At 10, merchants unlocked doors and flipped "Closed" signs to "Open."

Andy Sharp/asharp@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Todd Harris of Marietta enjoys a peaceful morning in the courtyard outside Cool Beans Coffee Shop on Tuesday. Behind him is the Marietta Welcome Center, which once served as the city's train depot.

Andy Sharp/asharp@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

A cyclist traverses the west side of the town square in Marietta, which grew up along a major railroad line and served as a center for cotton distribution.

RELATED: • Photos: The Square wakes up MORE ATLANTA A.M.: • Doggie day care • Comfort food key to diner's success • Rock and blues camp • Kennesaw Mountain • Farmers Market in Forest Park • Kids immerse themselves in fun

Marietta, the seat of Cobb County, grew up along a major railroad line and served as a center for cotton distribution. Today it's a well-heeled suburb of about 60,000, but the square maintains its small-town charm.

At a window table in the Grille on the Square, Jacqueline and George Berryman greeted the day over a leisurely breakfast of eggs and toast. The Berrymans recently moved to Florida after 32 years in Marietta, but came back to rent an apartment for the summer.

They like to sample the downtown restaurants, then sit in Glover Park, the heart of the square, and listen for the trains that tie up traffic and irritate drivers.

"I always wonder what the trains are carrying and where the trains are going," said Jacqueline Berryman.

A native of Australia, she has lived in London and Paris. In Marietta's little cafes, she said, "I can close my eyes and think I'm in Europe again."

Across the square from the Grille, the buzzing, whirring and banging sounds of renovation emanate from the old Strand Theatre.

The art-deco Strand opened in 1935 with "Top Hat," a musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It showed its last film in 1976, then housed several retail ventures until shutting its doors in 2002. Two years later, the community launched a "Bring Back the Strand" campaign.

The grand reopening is scheduled for early 2009.

Construction superintendent Steve Rinderle stepped out onto a terrace overlooking Marietta Square and envisioned the future when a wedding party might pose for photos below before holding a reception in the Strand.

"The whole point of this is really economic development," Rinderle said, "bringing more people down here so that it will spill over into the businesses on the rest of the square."

Businesses surrounding the square have come and gone over the years, but a constant for two decades has been Eddie's Trick Shop, where customers can buy theatrical makeup, biblical costumes, dancewear and, of course, magic paraphernalia.

Halloween is their Christmas, said Sue Puschak, the store's manager for 19 years. "I love the square," she said. "Every day's a new day."

Marietta historian and man-about-town Dan Cox has kept an eye on the square for all of his 69 years. Cox, who with his brother owns Cox Printing, opened the Marietta Museum of History in 1996 in a nearby former cotton warehouse. It was later a hotel that served as a hospital and morgue during the Civil War.

Cox credits his late mother with his success at acquiring information and exhibits from old-time Mariettans.

"Everybody knew who my mama was," he said. "All I had to do was tell 'em I was Lucille's son."

On Tuesday, Cox bent over a drafting table scattered with artifacts: Native American tools, the plates from a recently restored World War II Jeep now occupying the lobby, and a Confederate bullet.

The bullet is a rare treasure. When Cox used tweezers to lift a scrap of paper wrapped around it, he found gunpowder inside. "Never saw one like this," he said.

He remembers when downtown Marietta was full of stores with familiar names. The Coggins family ran Coggins' shoe store, the Sauls ran Saul's Department Store and the Groovers ran Groover's Hardware. In those days, he said, his parents could shop, say "charge it," and never sign a paper.

But nostalgia has its limits. "I grew up in a great time in a great town," he said, "but I wouldn't want to go back. I like air-conditioning and remote control TV."