Savannah's Orleans Square

Orleans Square was named for the 1815 victory of General Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans, during the War of 1812. The fountain was given in 1989 by Savannah's German heritage organizations, one of the many groups included and treasured in Savannah's ethnic diversity.

Orleans Square was added to the city plan in 1815.

In the centre of the square the German Memorial Fountain honours early German immigrants to Savannah. Installed in 1989 it commemorates the 250th anniversary of Georgia and of Savannah, as well as the 300th anniversary of the arrival in Philadelphia of thirteen Rhenish families.

Orleans Square is one of the 24 squares that was designed and incorporated into the plan for the city of Savannah.

Notable Buildings on Orleans Square:

Savannah Civic Center -- Built on the site of the Bulloch-Habersham House, designed by William Jay (c.1820) and razed by the city of Savannah in 1914. The Civic Center was completed in 1970.

Champion-McAlpin-Fowlkes House -- (1842) 230 Barnard Street on the East side of the square. Two-story Corinthian columns on a masterpiece of Greek Revival architecture. The house with the massive columns was built in 1844 for Aaron Champion. It is known as the Champion-McAlpin House which is owned by the Society of Cincinnati in the state of Georgia.

114 and 116 West Hull Street -- (1817), at the corner of West Hull and Barnard. With tin roofs and twin dormers, these houses were designed in 1817 by John Ash.

Location:

Orleans Square is located on Barnard, between Hull and Perry Streets, and is adjacent to the Savannah Civic Center.

The Squares of Savannah Georgia:

Savannah was originally laid out around four open squares. The plan anticipated growth of the city and thus expansion of the grid; additional squares were added during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, and by 1851 there were twenty four squares in downtown Savannah. Three of these have been demolished or altered beyond recognition, leaving twenty-one squares at the present. One of those, Ellis Square, is currently being rebuilt. Most squares are named in honor or in memory of a person, persons, or event, and many contain monuments, markers, memorials, statues, plaques, and other tributes. The first squares were originally intended to provide colonists space for military exercises. All of the squares are a part of Savannah's historic district and fall within an area of less than one half square mile. Savannah's city plan was designed by General James Oglethorpe, and his layout has been hailed as the most intelligent grid in America. The American Society of Civil Engineers has honored Oglethorpe's plan for Savannah as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and in 1994 the plan was nominated for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The squares are a major point of interest for millions of tourists visiting Savannah each year, and they have been credited with stabilizing once-deteriorating neighborhoods and revitalizing Savannah's downtown commercial district.