Savannah's Crawford Square

Crawford Square was laid out in 1841 and named in honor of Secretary of the Treasury William Harris Crawford, born in Savannah in 1772. Crawford ran for President in 1824 but came in third, after winner John Quincy Adams and runner-up Andrew Jackson.

Although Crawford is the smallest of the squares it anchors the largest ward, as Crawford Ward includes the territory of Colonial Park Cemetery.

During the era of Jim Crow this was the only square in which African-Americans were permitted. The square contains playground facilities, a basketball court, and a gazebo. While all squares were once fenced, it is the only one that remains so. Crawford Square has also retained its cistern, a holdover from early fire fighting practices. After a major fire in 1820 firemen maintained duty stations in the squares, each of which was equipped with a storage cistern.

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

Notable Buildings on Crawford Square:

Location:

Crawford Square is located on Houston, between Hull and Perry Streets on the eastern edge of the historic district.

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.