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Historic Churches |
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See complete listing of Savannah
Area Churches |
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Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Lafayette Square This Victorian Gothic
Cathedral by Francis Baldwin was begun in 1873 and completed in 1896. After a fire,
it was rebuilt and finished in 1899. The second oldest Roman Catholic Church in
Georgia. |
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Beth Eden Baptist Church Lincoln & Gordon Streets This Victorian
Gothic was built in 1897 and designed by Henry Urban, an English architect.
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Christ Episcopal Church Johnson Square Fashioned in the manner
of a Roman temple by architect James Hamilton Couper and designed in the Greek Revival
Style, it was completed in 1840. The bell was forged in 1819 in Boston by Revere
and Son. |
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First Baptist Church Chippewa Square Classic Greek Revival, constructed
with limestone stucco over Savannah gray brick, finished in 1833. Known for years
as the Savannah Baptist Church. |
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First African Baptist Church Franklin Square The oldest black congregation
in America, built by slaves in 1859. The origin can be traced back to George Leile
preaching to fellow slaves along the Savannah River in 1775. |
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First Congregational Church Whitefield Square Dating back to 1869,
Beach Institute was established after the Civil War for the education of blacks
in Savannah. In 1878 the present site was acquired and the building erected in 1895.
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First Bryan Baptist Church 575 W. Bryan Street Dating back to 1793,
said to be the oldest parcel of black owned real estate in the country. This structure
built in 1873 and designed by John B. Hogg. |
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St. Paul's Greek Orthodox Church Bull and Anderson Streets Chartered
in 1907 and moved to present location in 1941. Building erected in 1898 as "Lawton
Hall" and was used for meetings and concerts until it was purchased by the church. |
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Lutheran Church of the Ascension Wright Square Services were first
conducted in 1741. The present lot was deeded to the church in 1771, the congregation
purchased the wooden courthouse on the adjacent trust lot and moved it on rollers
across President Street and a steeple and bell were added.Services were in German
until 1824. The current Gothic building dates from 1844 but was altered in 1875.
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St. John's Episcopal Madison Square This Gothic Revival style church
dates from 1853 and was designed by Calvin N. Othis of Buffalo, NY. It is known
for its 47 bell chimes heard since 1854.
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Second African Baptist Church Greene Square The second oldest black
Baptist church in North American, organized in 1802. In this church, in 1865, Union
General Rufus Saxon read Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation to the newly freed
slaves. This was also where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I have a
dream" sermon.
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Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church, Calhoun Square A monument
to John and Charles Wesley, founders of Methodism. Patterned after Queen's Kirk
in Amsterdam, it was completed in 1890. The Gothic Revival building is said to be
one of the handsomest Methodist Churches in the South.
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Temple Mickve Israel Monteray Square The third oldest congregation
in the US practicing Reformed Judaism, just five months after Oglethorpe landed
with the original colonists. This structure was developed from a sketch by Henry
G. Harrison and consecrated in 1878. It is the only purely Gothic Revival synagogue
in America.
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Trinity United Methodist Church Telfair Square Began as Wesley
Chapel in 1812, it is the oldest Methodist congregation in Savannah. The present
building, designed by John B. Hogg, was completed in 1850 in the Greek Revival Style.
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Unitarian Universalist Church Troup Square The Unitarian Society
was formed in Savannah in 1831. This building, a Gothic structure, was designed
by John S. Norris and built on Oglethorpe Square and paid for by a donation from
jeweler Moses Eastman. After the church disbanded in 1860, the building was returned
to Mrs. Eastman who sold the structure to the Episcopal Church who moved it to its
present location on Troup Square. There it became St. Stephens, the first parish
for African Americans in Georgia. That congregation sold it in 1943 to the Baptist
Church. In the 1950's the Unitarian congregation was regenerated and in 1997 the
Baptist Center moved to a new location and the Unitarians reclaimed their old church
building. They reoccupied the church on Easter Sunday 1997.
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Independent Presbyterian Church Bull St. & Oglethorpe Ave.
The congregation was organized in 1755 and John Holden Green of Rhode Island was
commissioned to design the present structure in 1816. After it burned in 1889 it
was replicated by William G. Peston in the same Neoclassical style. The massive
steeple, made of steel and cast iron, weighs 180 tons.
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