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Calhoun Square (Savannah, Georgia)

1851 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)Squares of Savannah, Georgia
Calhoun live oak
Calhoun live oak

One of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States, laid out in 1851 south of Lafayette Square, west of Whitefield Square, and east of Monterey Square, the location long named Calhoun Square has been unnamed since 2022. The oldest buildings on the square, the Adam Short Property and the Alexander Bennett House (both on East Taylor Street), date to 1853. Sometimes called Massie Square, the former Massie Common School House was built in 1855. The Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church, founded in 1868, is located on the western side of the square. The square had previously been used as a "negro burial ground"; in 1855, the bodies of enslaved residents Emily and Rinah were removed to Laurel Grove Cemetery. In 2004, a skull was found by utility workers outside the Massie Heritage Interpretation Center on the square's southeastern side. This legacy prompted a 2021 movement to rename the square after the Sankofa bird, a Ghanaian symbol expressing the "importance of knowing one's history." Susie King Taylor was considered another candidate for renaming in August 2021. City councilors voted unanimously on November 10, 2022 to remove Calhoun's name from the square; a new name is forthcoming.

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Calhoun Square (Savannah, Georgia)
East Gordon Street, Savannah Savannah Historic District

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 32.0707 ° E -81.0925 °
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Address

East Gordon Street

East Gordon Street
31401 Savannah, Savannah Historic District
Georgia, United States
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Calhoun live oak
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First Congregational Church of Savannah

The First Congregational Church is a church located at 421 Habersham Street in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It stands on the western side of Whitefield Square. The church is unique to Savannah in that it was born out of an educational institution. What was known as the Oglethorpe Colored Free School (established in 1865 and named for the city's founder, James Oglethorpe) became the Beach Institute. The institute fell under the auspices of the Colored Educational Association of Savannah, itself an offspring of the American Missionary Society of New York.The original Beach Institute building, erected in 1867 as its first school, still stands at 502 East Harris Street (now the Beach Institute African American Cultural Center). The Institute is named for Alfred Ely Beach — son of Moses Yale Beach and a descendant of Plymouth pilgrim William Brewster and Elihu Yale — who donated the land.In April 1869, thirteen men and women, along with the Rev. Robert L. Carter, founded the First Congregational Church of Savannah. Meetings were held at the Beach Institute, amongst other venues, over the next few years. In 1878, it acquired the lot at Taylor and Habersham Streets The first small-frame meeting house was replaced in 1895 with the present Gothic structure, which was renovated in 1968. The building's original steeple was destroyed in a 1940 storm, and it was not replaced until 1992.The Madeline V. Hanne Fellowship Hall was added onto the church, on land that was donated by the St Joseph's Hospital, in 1976.The church's first members were white missionaries and students of the school. Its first four ministers were New Englanders.

Thomas–Levy House
Thomas–Levy House

The Thomas–Levy House is a historic building in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It comprises the western half of a Second Empire baroque townhouse known as the Thomas–Purse Duplex, located in the northeastern residential block of Monterey Square. It was built in 1869 for Daniel Thomas, and is part of the Savannah Historic District.In a survey for Historic Savannah Foundation, Mary Lane Morrison found the building to be of significant status.Daniel Remshart Thomas (1843–1915) was a Savannah native. After the Civil War, he went into business with Captain Daniel Gugel Purse Sr. Three years later, the two men built a duplex, of which one half is now known as the Thomas–Levy House, with Purse owning number 14 next door. Thomas lived at number 12 with his wife Jeanne Manget. His family later moved to another duplex, the Abraham Smith & Herman Traub building at 210 East Gaston Street, where Thomas died in 1916.The Levy family purchased the property in the 1880s, and it was renovated and added to in 1897 by department-store owner and Alsace, France, native Benjamin Hirsch Levy I. Marion Levy Mendal died in 2019 at the age of 101. She was married to Benjamin Hirsch Levy II, grandson of the earlier owner. The building's basement level is the home of V & J Duncan Antique Maps, Prints and Books, established in 1983 by John and Virginia (Ginger) Duncan, who still run it. They purchased the property in 1977 for $36,000. They installed an elevator in 2008.Its courtyard features a reproduction of Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss sculpture that was on exhibition at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, visited the Duncans in the early 1980s, during the early research for his non-fiction novel. Ginger is mentioned in the book, while both John and Ginger appear in Clint Eastwood's 1997 film adaptation.