![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Whitefield_Square%252C_Savannah.jpg/640px-Whitefield_Square%252C_Savannah.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Whitefield Square (Savannah, Georgia)
Public square in Savannah, Georgia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Whitefield Square (Savannah, Georgia)?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Whitefield Square (/ˈhwɪtfiːld/) is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the southernmost row of the city's five rows of squares, on Habersham Street and East Wayne Street, and was the final square laid out,[1] in 1851.[2] It is south of Troup Square and east of Taylor Square in the southeastern corner of Savannah's grid of squares. The oldest building on the square is at 412–414 East Taylor Street, which dates to 1855.[3]
![]() Whitefield Square and its gazebo | |
Namesake | Rev. George Whitefield |
---|---|
Maintained by | City of Savannah |
Location | Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
Coordinates | 32.0701°N 81.0904°W / 32.0701; -81.0904 |
North | Habersham Street |
East | East Wayne Street |
South | Habersham Street |
West | East Wayne Street |
Construction | |
Completion | 1851 (173 years ago) (1851) |
It is named for the Rev. George Whitefield (whose last name is pronounced Whitfield),[2] founder of Bethesda Home for Boys in the 18th century, and still in existence on the south side of the city.[4]
The square has a gazebo in its center.[2]
A notable building facing the western side of the square is the First Congregational Church.[2] Other prominent, though 20th-century, buildings are the Rose-of-Sharon Apartments (which occupies the entire northwestern tything block) and, across Habersham Street, the Red Cross Building.
The square, and its immediate vicinity, was once a burial ground for both negro slaves and free persons of all colors. The original 1805 burial ground included the northern end of today's square, a half block to the north and one block to the west, It was extended in 1812 to the northwest and in 1818 to the south, this time incorporating the southern end of today's square.[5] Due to this connection, a movement was started in 2021 to rename the square Jubilee Square, after Jubilee Freedom Day, the day when General William Sherman arrived in Savannah in 1864 to begin enforcing Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.[6]
Andrew Bryan, the founder of the First African Baptist Church, was buried in the square, as was Henry Cunningham, the minister of the Second African Baptist Church.[2]