Franklin Square

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 / 32.0810; -81.0959
North	Montgomery Street
East	West St. Julian Street
South	Montgomery Street
West	West St. Julian Street
Construction
Completion	1790 (235 years ago) (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.

Namesake	Image	Note
Benjamin Franklin		The square is named for Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, who served as an agent for the colony of Georgia from 1768 to 1778 and who died in 1790, the year Franklin Square was laid out.[9]

Object	Image	Note
Chasseurs volontaires de Saint-Domingue (Haitian Memorial)		A memorial honoring volunteers of Saint-Domingue, Haiti, who fought with Casimir Pulaski during the siege of Savannah, created by sculptor James Mastin, was unveiled in Franklin Square in 2007.[2] It includes a depiction of 12-year-old Henri Christophe, who became the commander of the Haitian army and King of Haiti.[2]

Each building below is in one of the eight blocks around the square composed of four residential "tything" blocks and four civic ("trust") blocks, now known as the Oglethorpe Plan. They are listed with construction years where known.

• 
  418 West Bryan Street
• 
  420 West Bryan Street
• 
  First African Baptist Church, 23 Montgomery Street
• 
  Augustus Walter Building, 401–403 West Congress Street
• 
  Augustus Walter Building, 405 West Congress Street
• 
  James Brannen Building, 419–423 West Congress Street
• 
  Abram Minis Building, 20–22 Montgomery Street/317 West Bryan Street
• 
  312 West St. Julian Street
• 
  314 West St. Julian Street
• 
  The side of 315 West St. Julian Street, from Montgomery Street
• 
  Immediately around the corner to the right, 310–312 West Congress Street, the frontages of the previous properties
• 
  Charles Lamar Properties, 305–307 West St. Julian Street
• 
  309–315 West St. Julian Street, formerly known as the Reservoir Mills
• 
  302–204 West Bryan Street
• 
  305 West Bryan Street
• 
  George Hardcastle Building, 30–38 Montgomery Street
• 
  Charles Meitzler Building, 307–309 West Congress Street
• 
  Germania Fire Company, 315 West Congress Street