Calhoun Square (Savannah, Georgia)

rdf:langString Calhoun Square (Savannah, Georgia)

rdf:langString Calhoun Square

rdf:langString Calhoun Square

rdf:langString A live oak in the southwestern corner of the square, looking east

rdf:langString East Wayne Street

rdf:langString Savannah, Georgia, U.S.

rdf:langString City of Savannah

rdf:langString Abercorn Street

rdf:langString East Wayne Street

rdf:langString Calhoun Square 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 Abercorn Street and East Wayne Street, and was laid out in 1851. It is south of Lafayette Square, west of Whitefield Square and east of Monterey Square. The oldest buildings on the square are at 102 East Taylor Street and 118–122 East Taylor Street, both of which date to 1853. The square is named for South Carolina statesman John C. Calhoun, who served as Secretary of War, Secretary of State, and as vice president under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. The square is sometimes called Massie Square, in reference to the former Massie Common School House, built in 1855, in the southeastern residential/tything lot of the square. On the western side of the square is the Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church, founded in 1868. It is the only square with all of its original buildings intact. The square is believed to have been built over a negro burial ground, with around one thousand bodies buried in it. In 1855, the bodies of Emily and Rinah, both slaves, were removed to Laurel Grove Cemetery. In 2004, a skull was found by utility workers outside the Massie Heritage Interpretation Center on the square's southeastern side. Due to this connection, a movement was started in 2021 to rename the square Sankofa Square. The Sankofa bird is a Ghanaian symbol expressing the "importance of knowing one's history." Another renaming, this time for Susie King Taylor, was considered in August 2021. On November 10, 2022, city councilors voted unanimously to remove Calhoun's name from the square. A new name is forthcoming.