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Images of Savannah
Savannah is a city rich in history and beautiful architecture. Photographers have been capturing views of the city for the tourist trade and for commercial purposes since the beginning of photography. The Savannah College of Art and Design library collection includes images of the city and environs in various forms such as stereographs, postcards, slides, and other formats. Images from several collections are presented here, providing a cross-section of time. The stereographs date from the 1870s, the cabinet cards from the 1880s, publications from the 1890s, postcards from the 1900s, and photographs and slides are more recent. The images have been divided into categories, such as Aerial Views, Churches, Downtown Buildings, Hotels, and Schools, for ease of discovery.
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The postcards in this collection date from 1904-1968, though many are undated. Some have copyright dates and others, if they were mailed, have postmarks. The bulk of the collection dates from between 1905-1915. The subject of the collection is predominantly of Savannah buildings, street scenes, and monuments. Since many of these buildings have been preserved and repurposed, it is interesting to see them in their original form. A number of the buildings depicted are now owned or used by SCAD.
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The collection consists of stereoviews of Savannah buildings, scenes, residences, monuments, cemeteries, and events. These images were by various photographers and date from the 1880’s to the 1930’s, though most are undated. Several are the work of local photographers. The cards themselves consist of two almost identical photographic prints affixed onto cards formatted to fit in a stereo viewer. Also included is a stereo viewer with no label or manufacturers mark, made of wood and metal with glass lenses. It is adjustable and is stamped in the wood: Pat’d Apr. 12 04.
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Black and white stereograph image of Savannah, affixed to a gray card with publication information printed on the front and descriptive information on the city and of rice growing printed on the back. Some of the signage on buildings visible in the image include: Jefferson Medical Institute, Jackson & Goodman Dry Goods, R & G Corsets, and E. F Whitcomb. In the Savannah City Directory for 1899, E. F. Whitcomb was listed as a Merchandise Broker located at 30 West Broughton Street.
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Color postcard of downtown Savannah with no border. Back is divided and postally unused. Caption on back: "Historic and Beautiful Savannah, 'Birthplace of Georgia' is situated on a deep landlocked harbor at the head of ocean navigation on the Savannah River. More cotton is shipped from here than from any other Atlantic port, and it is the leading export city of the world for naval stores. In Christ Church, on the side of John Wesley's Chapel, was held the first Protestant Sunday School in America. Wormsloe Gardens. On the south end of the the Isle of Hope are the most beautiful in the South." The view is of the downtown and the dome of City Hall is visible towards the top right. Bull Street diagonally traverses the the center of the card and ends with Wright Square at the center bottom.
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Black and white stereograph image of Bay Street, with double image pasted down on an orange card. Back of card is pink with printed publisher information and title information hand written in ink. The view appears to have been taken from the Independent Presbyterian Church, looking north, showing Bull Street and vicinity. The square that is visible is Wright Square and the church is the Lutheran Church of the Ascension, designed by George B. Clarke in 1879. The Greek Revival building next to it was the Chatham County Court House. It was demolished in 1889 and replaced with the current Romanesque Revival Court House designed by William G. Preston. In the background is the Savannah River with the South Carolina rice fields in the distance.
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Black and white stereograph image of Bay Street, with double image pasted down on a pink card. Back of card is orange with printed publisher information and paper title label pasted on. The view appears to be looking west down East Bay Street; telephone poles are in evidence. Signs on the street are partially identifiable. A wool and hide vendor, a tobacco shop, and street vendors are in visible.
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Black and white stereograph image of Bull Street, with double image affixed to an orange card. Back of card is pink with printed publisher information and title information hand written in ink. This view shows telephone or telegraph wires, so it later than the almost identical panoramic view of Bull Street also by Havens. In the center is the Nathaniel Greene Monument in Johnson Square. A sign for Wm. H. Grady Plain and Ornamental Plasterer appears on a sign near the lower left of the image. S. P. Hamilton, Carpets and Furniture is on a building sign in the distance. The title mentions the Pulaski House on the left, but actually, the Pulaski House is on the right, in front of the square. The hotel was torn down in 1957 to construct a Morrison Cafeteria. Diagonally across the square, with a good view of the front, is the Screven House, which was demolished in 1923 to construct the Manger Hotel. The very tall steeple on the right side of the street is that of the Independent Presbyterian Church. The other steeple to the left of the view is the Lutheran Church of the Ascension, built in 1879.
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Black and white stereograph image of Bull Street, with double image pasted down on an orange card. Back of card is pink with printed publisher information and title information hand written in ink. Only one building sign is visible and though the name of the business is obscured, Dry Goods 127 is readable. In the center of the card is the Nathaniel Greene monument that stands in Johnson Square.
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Black and white stereograph card with double image affixed to orange card. Publication information is printed on pink paper on the back of card and the title is handwritten in ink. It is difficult to tell where this view is looking east from, but there were not very many high points in the city, so it could be from one of the tall church steeples.
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Black and white stereograph image of Bay Street, with double image pasted down on an orange card. Back of card is pink with printed publisher information and title information hand written in ink. The view appears to be similar to the Bird's Eye View by J. N. Wilson, which was reportedly taken from the Independent Presbyterian Church, looking north, showing Bull Street and vicinity. The square that is visible is Wright Square, and Bull Street travels north from the square to the old City Exchange Building. In the background is the Savannah River with the South Carolina rice fields in the distance.
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Black and white stereograph image of Savannah, affixed to a gray card with publication and title information printed on the front and the back left blank. In the distant left, the double spires of the Cathedral of St John the Baptist appear. The church on the right towards the front is the Independent Presbyterian Church, located at the corner of Bull Street and Oglethorpe Street.
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Color postcard, no border, with view from City Hall looking south at the obelisk on Johnson Square and down Bull Street. Divided back with no caption, postally unused. The tall white building on the right was the Germania Bank, also known as the Blun Building. It was the first of Savannah's tall office buildings. Designed by Hyman W. Witcover and completed around 1904, this building originally was located at Bull and Congress Streets, but was razed in 1975. The building directly behind it was the Liberty Bank and Trust, also designed by Witcover. It was two stories taller than the Blun Building.
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Black and white panoramic view looking towards the Savannah River from the Hotel De Soto. The card is folded in half with the left side for message and the right side for address. The card has no publication information or caption on it. The right side is undivided and postmarked May 27, 1907. Just to the right of the center fold is the Independent Presbyterian Church steeple. The building was originally built in 1819, but was destroyed by fire in 1889. The current building, completed in 1891, was a replica of the previous building.
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Black and white stereograph card of the entrance to Forsyth Park affixed to orange paper. The back on pink paper includes printed publication information and title information handwritten in ink. Forsyth Park was named for former Georgia Governor John Forsyth (1780-1841). William Brown Hodgson developed the idea to set aside ten acres of wooded land to create Savannah's first recreational park in the 1840s. The original landscape design was by William Bischoff. The park and fountain design owe a lot to the urban renewal that was going on in Paris. Over many years, improvements to the park were made such as adding walkways, ornamental plantings, benches, and iron fencing around the perimeter. The fountain and radiating walks were added in 1858. Additional lands were added to the park in 1867, making the total park area about 30 acres.
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Color postcard with no border and divided back. Caption from back: "This bright playground is used by hundreds of children in a low income area of Savannah. It is a product of The Georgia Plan, a community development program started in Savannah by Mills B. Lane, Jr. President of the Citizens and Southern Bank. The park is surfaced with astroturf, a synthetic grass, and is equipped with the latest types of permanent playground equipment." It appears that the cupola of the Barnard Street School is to the left and Chatham Square is just beyond the park.
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Black and white stereograph of Bonaventure Cemetery with double image affixed to yellow card. Printed publication information is on the front of the card and the title is handwritten in ink on the back, also yellow. Depicted is one of the cemetery paths through moss covered live oaks. Bonaventure Cemetery was established in 1846 when the Bonaventure plantation lands were sold and 70 acres were set aside as a public cemetery. The Evergreen Cemetery Company managed the grounds and cemetery until 1907, when it became property of the City of Savannah.
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Black and white stereograph card of Bonaventure Cemetery, with double image affixed to orange paper. On the back, publication information in printed on pink paper, with title and number handwritten in ink. The view is of an unknown memorial plot in the cemetery. Located three miles east of downtown on the Wilmington River, Bonaventure Cemetery was established in 1846 when the Bonaventure plantation lands were sold and 70 acres were set aside as a public cemetery. The Evergreen Cemetery Company managed the grounds and cemetery until 1907, when it became property of the City of Savannah.
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Black and white stereograph card of Forsyth Park with double image affixed to orange paper. The back of the card is pink paper with publication information printed and title information handwritten in ink. The Confederate Monument was built with funds raise by the Savannah’s Ladies Memorial Association. They had specific wishes for the statue as to materials, but subject matter was left to the sculptor. When it was unveiled in 1875, it did not meet with a positive response. The top of the memorial had the figure "Silence" at the top. A donor offered to pay to have it remodeled and hired a different sculptor to do the job. The new version, depicted here, included a bronze soldier at the top the monument. When presented again in 1879, it was to much more positive reviews. The sculpture of Silence was moved to Laurel Grove Cemetery to the Gettysburg plot.
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Black and white stereograph card of Sphinxes in Forsyth Park with double image affixed to yellow paper. Back of card has publisher information printed on yellow paper and title information handwritten in ink. These two beautiful Egyptian statues formerly flanked the entrance to Forsyth Park. the statures were blown up by small boys armed with large firecrackers. The sphinxes were about 6 feet long and constructed of a relatively soft metal alloy of zinc, tin and lead. The vandals packed the statues with giant firecrackers and blew them up. This first attempt was only strong enough to break up the statues into large chunks. Charles A. Cox, the owner of a tin and roofing shop was able to restore the statues. But the vandals came back with larger explosives and the already weakened statues did not survive the second assault.
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Black and white stereograph card with image of statue of Mercury and with the double image affixed to orange paper. The back of the card is printed on blue paper and pasted down on pink paper. It contains printed information about the publisher and about Bonaventure Cemetery. The title information is handwritten in ink. Information cannot be found about the statue of Mercury in Forsyth Park, though several images of it exist and most of them also mention that it was in Forsyth Park.
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Black and white postcard depicting the large granite monument to Tomo Chi-Chi in Wright Square, located at Bull Street and President Street in Savannah, Georgia. There is a border with the title on the right side of the front; the back is undivided and postmarked June 16,1909, with no caption. Tomo Chi-Chi, chief of the Yamacraw Indians, assisted Oglethorpe in establishing a British settlement in Georgia. He was buried in Wright Square in 1739 with a prior marker, but that was moved in in 1883. The present granite monument was placed in 1899 by the Georgia Society of Colonial Dames of America and may be the only memorial for a Native American erected by European descendants in the United States.
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Black and white stereograph card of Bonaventure Cemetery with double image affixed to peach paper. Publisher and title information are printed on front of card, back of card is blank. Depicted is one of the cemetery paths through moss covered live oaks. Bonaventure Cemetery was established in 1846 when the Bonaventure plantation lands were sold and 70 acres were set aside as a public cemetery. The Evergreen Cemetery Company managed the grounds and cemetery until 1907, when it became property of the City of Savannah.
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Black and white stereograph card of Forsyth Park with double image affixed to yellow paper. Title and publication information is printed on front and back is left blank. While it is not known when this image was photographed, it is known that in the early years of the park, there were many tall pine trees that were eventually removed to make a more landscaped park setting. Forsyth Park was named for former Georgia Governor John Forsyth (1780-1841). William Brown Hodgson developed the idea to set aside ten acres of wooded land to create Savannah's first recreational park in the 1840s. The original landscape design was by William Bischoff. The park and fountain design owe a lot to the urban renewal that was going on in Paris. Over many years, improvements to the park were made such as adding walkways, ornamental plantings, benches, and iron fencing around the perimeter. The fountain and radiating walks were added in 1858. Additional lands were added to the park in 1867, making the total park area about 30 acres.
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Black and white stereograph card of the Forsyth Park fountain with double image affixed to pink paper backing. The back of card on orange paper has printed publication information and a printed paper label with title and number. The fountain was added to the park in 1858 and is constructed of cast iron. There are similar fountains in Peru and New York. All three fountains are based on the design for the fountain in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Over the years the fountain suffered damage and was completely restored in 1988.
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