The William Washington Gordon Monument is a public

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Located in

Wright Square Wright is an occupational surname originating in England. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a shipwright is ...

, the monument honors politician and businessman

William Washington Gordon William Washington Gordon (January 17, 1796 – March 22, 1842) was an American politician and businessman. Gordon was born in Screven County, Georgia. He was named after American Revolutionary War General William Washington under whom Gordon's ...

and was designed by

Henry Van Brunt Henry Van Brunt FAIA (September 5, 1832 – April 8, 1903) was a 19th-century American architect and architectural writer. Life and work Van Brunt was born in Boston in 1832 to Gershom Jacques Van Brunt and Elizabeth Price Bradlee. Van Brunt ...

and

Frank M. Howe Frank M. Howe (20 July 1849 – 4 January 1909) was an architect in Kansas City, Missouri, and Boston, Massachusetts. He was a partner with Henry Van Brunt in the prominent firm of Van Brunt and Howe. He later partnered with Henry F. Hoit as How ...

. It was completed in 1883.

History

was a railroad baron during the mid-1800s who served as the founder and first president of the

Central of Georgia Railway The Central of Georgia Railway started as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company in 1833. As a way to better attract investment capital, the railroad changed its name to Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. This railroad was cons ...

. He was also the father of

Juliette Gordon Low Juliette Gordon Low (October 31, 1860 – January 17, 1927) was the American founder of Girl Scouts of the USA. Inspired by the work of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of Boy Scouts, she joined the Girl Guide movement in England, forming her own gro ...

, the founder of the

Girl Scouts of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as simply Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. Founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, it was organized a ...

. In 1842, Gordon passed away at the age of 46. Several years later, in 1883, efforts were underway to erect a monument in honor of Gordon in Savannah. At Wright Square, a pyramid of rocks that marked the burial place of

Tomochichi Tomochichi (to-mo-chi-chi') (c. 1644 – October 5, 1741) was the head chief of a Yamacraw town on the site of present-day Savannah, Georgia, in the 18th century. He gave his land to James Oglethorpe to build the city of Savannah. He remains a p ...

was removed to make way for the monument.

was a

Yamacraw The Yamacraw were a Native American band that emerged in the early 18th century, occupying parts of what became Georgia, specifically along the bluffs near the mouth of the Savannah River where it enters the Atlantic Ocean. They were made up of ...

chief who aided the early settlers of Savannah, and after his death in 1739, he was buried at Wright Square, with General James Oglethorpe serving as one of his

pallbearers A pallbearer is one of several participants who help carry the casket at a funeral. They may wear white gloves in order to prevent damaging the casket and to show respect to the deceased person. Some traditions distinguish between the roles of ...

. Tomochichi's body was relocated from the center of the square to the southeast corner to make way for the new monument. Nellie Gordon, Gordon's daughter-in-law and the first president of the Georgia branch of the

National Society of the Colonial Dames of America The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America is an American organization composed of women who are descended from an ancestor "who came to reside in an American Colony before 1776, and whose services were rendered during the Colonial Pe ...

, would later advocate for a new monument to be erected in honor of Tomochichi, which occurred several years later in 1899. The monument to Gordon, completed in 1883 with funds from the Central of Georgia Railway, was completed in 1883. It was designed by the

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

. In 1958, a

Georgia historical marker A Historic marker is an "Alamo"-shaped plaque affixed to the top of a pole and erected next to a significant historic site, battlefield or county courthouse. In the state of Georgia there are roughly 2,000 historic markers. Kevin Levin of the ...

was erected in the square that detailed the history of the monument and surrounding area.

Design

The monument consists of a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

pedestal A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ci ...

supporting four

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

. An

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

is located between these columns, and at the top of the monument is a

globe A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe ...

. One side of the monument features a carving of a train on a

trestle bridge A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by closely spaced frames. A trestle (sometimes tressel) is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used to support a stool or a pair of isosceles trian ...

, while another two sides feature the following inscriptions:

References

External links

* {{coord, 32.07796, -81.09233, format=dms, type:landmark_region:US-GA, display=title 1883 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 1883 sculptures Landmarks in Savannah, Georgia Monuments and memorials in Savannah, Georgia Outdoor sculptures in Georgia (U.S. state) Wright Square (Savannah) monuments

History

Design

See also

References

External links