Franklin Square (Savannah, Georgia)

Franklin Square is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the northernmost row of the city's five rows of squares, at Montgomery Street and West St. Julian Street. It is west of Ellis Square in the northwestern corner of the city's grid of squares. The square now anchors the western end of the City Market retail area.

The oldest building on the square is 317 West Bryan Street, the Abram Minis Building, which dates to 1846.

The square is named for Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

It once contained a forty-foot-tall water tower to distribute water to residents. It was built with after the previous system of public and private surface wells was overwhelmed by the rising population of the city. The water was taken out of the Savannah River west of the Ogelthorpe Canal Basin before being filtered and pumped up to the water tower. Because of the tower, Franklin Square was also known as Water Tank Square and Water Tower Square. It was later nicknamed Reservoir Square, after an 87 ft high reservoir which occupied the square in the 19th century. It held around 180,000 gallons of water.

The square was destroyed in 1935 with the routing of U.S. Highway 17 on Montgomery Street but was restored in the mid-1980s. In 1967, Montgomery Street was changed from two-way to one-way between Jones and Bay streets; in 1985, however, to assist with the restoration of Franklin Square, it was restored to two-way traffic between Bay and Broughton streets. In 2019, the bi-directional traffic flow was extended from Broughton to Liberty streets.

Bethel Church stood in the southwestern trust/civic block in the late 19th century. It was replaced by a brick warehouse.

Sweet Georgia Brown's, a piano bar which gained popularity after its appearance in John Berendt's 1994 book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, was located at 312 West St. Julian Street.

Constituent buildings
Each building below is in one of the eight blocks around the square composed of four residential "tything" blocks and four civic ("trust") blocks, now known as the Oglethorpe Plan. They are listed with construction years where known.


 * Northwestern residential/tything block
 * 418 West Bryan Street (1910)
 * 420 West Bryan Street (1912)
 * 14 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (1891/1924)


 * Northwestern trust/civic block
 * First African Baptist Church, 23 Montgomery Street (1859)


 * Southwestern residential/tything block
 * Augustus Walter Building, 401–405 West Congress Street (1867/1870)
 * 407–415 West Congress Street (1870/1872)
 * James Brannen Building, 419–423 West Congress Street (1875) – third story added 1906; roof development is 21st century


 * Northeastern trust/civic block
 * Abram Minis Building, 317 West Bryan Street (20–22 Montgomery Street) (1846) – oldest building on the square; Vinnie Van GoGo's as of 2021
 * 301–305 West St. Julian Street (1855)
 * 302 West St. Julian Street (1855) – A. T. Hun Art Gallery as of 2021
 * 304 West St. Julian Street (c. 1855)
 * 310 West St. Julian Street (1884)
 * 312 West St. Julian Street (1860)
 * 314–316 West St. Julian Street (1870)


 * Southeastern trust/civic block
 * Charles Lamar Properties, 305–307 West St. Julian Street (1892)
 * 309–315 West St. Julian Street (1902)


 * Southeastern residential/tything block
 * George Hardcastle Building, 30–38 Montgomery Street (1855)
 * Charles Meitzler Building, 307–309 West Congress Street (1875)
 * Germania Fire Company, 315 West Congress Street (1871)