&sq=&lang=&file=File:Franklin_Square,_Savannah.jpg) Franklin Square in 2017 | |
| Namesake | Benjamin Franklin |
|---|---|
| Maintained by | City of Savannah |
| Location | Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 32°04′52″N 81°05′45″W / 32.0810°N 81.0959°W |
| North | Montgomery Street |
| East | West St. Julian Street |
| South | Montgomery Street |
| West | West St. Julian Street |
| Construction | |
| Completion | 1790 |
Franklin Square is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the northernmost row of the city's five rows of squares, at Montgomery Street and West St. Julian Street.[1] It is west of Ellis Square in the northwestern corner of the city's grid of squares. The square now anchors the western end of the City Market retail area.[2]
The oldest building on the square is 317 West Bryan Street, the Abram Minis Building, which dates to 1846.[3]
The square is named for Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
It once contained a forty-foot-tall water tower to distribute water to residents. It was built with after the previous system of public and private surface wells was overwhelmed by the rising population of the city. The water was taken out of the Savannah River west of the Ogelthorpe Canal Basin before being filtered and pumped up to the water tower.[4] Because of the tower, Franklin Square was also known as Water Tank Square and Water Tower Square. It was later nicknamed Reservoir Square,[1] after an 87-foot (27 m) high reservoir which occupied the square in the 19th century. It held around 180,000 gallons of water.[5]
The square was destroyed in 1935 with the routing of U.S. Highway 17 on Montgomery Street but was restored in the mid-1980s.[1][6] In 1967, Montgomery Street was changed from two-way to one-way between Jones and Bay streets; in 1985, however, to assist with the restoration of Franklin Square, it was restored to two-way traffic between Bay and Broughton streets. In 2019, the bi-directional traffic flow was extended from Broughton to Liberty streets.[7]
Bethel Church stood in the southwestern trust/civic block in the late 19th century.[8] It was replaced by a brick warehouse.
Sweet Georgia Brown's, a piano bar which gained popularity after its appearance in John Berendt's 1994 book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, was located at 312 West St. Julian Street.
- ^ a b c "Franklin Square". Visit-Historic-Savannah.com. Visit-Historic-Savannah.com. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ "Franklin Square - Savannah, GA". Savannah.com. Savannah.com. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
mpc4was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Fraser, Walter (2005). Savannah in the Old South. University of Georgia Press. p. 295. ISBN 082032776X. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ "Image 3 of Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ "Squares of Savannah" (PDF). CityWalkingGuide.com. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ staff, City of Savannah Municipal Archives. "Savannah archives: Increased traffic, I-16 impacted Savannah Squares, city's westside residents". Savannah Morning News. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
- ^ "Image 3 of Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2024-02-17.