Crawford Square (Savannah, Georgia)

Crawford Square

242 Price Street, now demolished
Namesake	William Harris Crawford
Maintained by	City of Savannah
Location	Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Coordinates	32°04′27″N 81°05′12″W / 32.0742°N 81.0868°W / 32.0742; -81.0868
North	Houston Street
East	East McDonough Street
South	Houston Street
West	East McDonough Street
Construction
Completion	1841 (183 years ago) (1841)

Crawford Square is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the middle row of the city's five rows of squares, on Houston Street and East McDonough Street, and was laid out in 1841. It is south of Greene Square and east of Colonial Park Cemetery on the eastern edge of the Savannah Historic District.^[1] The oldest building on the square is at 224 Houston Street, which dates to 1850.^[2]

Crawford Square is named in honor of Secretary of the Treasury William Harris Crawford.^[3] Crawford ran for the U.S. presidency in 1824 but came in third, after winner John Quincy Adams and runner-up Andrew Jackson.^[4]

Although Crawford is the smallest of the squares, it anchors the largest ward, as Crawford Ward includes the territory of Colonial Park Cemetery.^[5]

During the era of Jim Crow, this was the only square in which African-Americans were permitted.^[5]

The square contains playground facilities, a basketball court, and a gazebo.^[6]

While all squares were once fenced, it is the only one that remains so. Crawford Square has also retained its cistern, a holdover from early fire fighting practices.^[5] After a major fire in 1820 firemen maintained duty stations in the squares, each of which was equipped with a storage cistern.^[7]

The Lady Chablis lived in the square prior to her rise to fame after her appearance in John Berendt's non-fiction novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.^[8]