Savannah's squares
Savannah, Georgia, 1733 · The idea: a town that grows by repeating one small, complete neighbourhood.
The problem
In 1733 James Oglethorpe arrived on a bluff above the Savannah River with about a hundred and twenty settlers to found the colony of Georgia. The town had to be laid out at once, before anyone knew how big it would become.
A single grand plan would be wrong as soon as the town outgrew it. Oglethorpe needed a pattern that worked at four streets and still worked at forty.
Move by move
- 1733 Design one ward: an open square in the middle, four civic "trust" blocks for churches and public buildings, and four "tythings" — blocks of ten houses each.
- 1733 Lay out the first four wards along the bluff, each around its own square.
- 1730s–1851 When the town needs to grow, add another whole ward, not another street. By 1851 there are twenty-four squares.
- 1900s Three squares are lost to roads and to a market and parking garage as cars arrive.
- 2010 Ellis Square, lost under a parking garage, reopens as a square.
What happened
The squares break up through traffic, so the old town stays easy to walk, with a small park every block or two. Twenty-two of the twenty-four squares survive, and the district became a National Historic Landmark District in 1966.
What critics said
- The town stands on Yamacraw Bluff, land that the Yamacraw leader Tomochichi gave Oglethorpe to build on.
- Georgia banned slavery in its early years, but the ban was lifted in 1751, and the city that grew along this plan was built in large part by enslaved people.
- Where the idea came from is argued about: suggestions include Roman colonial planning, classical ideas going back to Vitruvius, and earlier English plans.
- On squared paper, draw one ward: a square, two trust lots each side, two blocks of houses above and below.
- Take turns adding a whole ward next to an existing one. Where does the town feel finished? Where does it feel endless?
The Honest Page
- Known. Savannah was founded in 1733 by James Oglethorpe, and its plan is built from repeated wards of tythings and trust blocks around squares. Source
- Known. Twenty-four squares were laid out; twenty-two survive, Ellis Square having been restored in 2010. Source
- Known. Georgia's ban on slavery was repealed in 1751. Source
- Known. Tomochichi gave the land on Yamacraw Bluff for the town. Source
- Argued about. What inspired the ward plan. Source