Wright Square is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the second row of the city's five rows of squares, on Bull Street and President Street, and was laid out in 1733 as one of the first four squares. It is south of Johnson Square, west of

Oglethorpe Square Oglethorpe may refer to: People *Oglethorpe (surname) Places * Bramham cum Oglethorpe, West Yorkshire, England * Brookhaven/Oglethorpe (MARTA station), a passenger rail station located in the Brookhaven neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia * Mount Ogl ...

, north of

Chippewa Square Chippewa Square is one of the Squares of Savannah, Georgia, 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the middle row of the city's five rows of squares, on Bull Street and McDonough Street, and was laid out in 1815. It is s ...

and east of Telfair Square. The oldest building on the square is the William Waring Property, at 12 West State Street, which dates to 1825. The second square established in Savannah, it was originally name Percival Square, for

John Percival, 1st Earl of Egmont John Perceval, 1st Earl of Egmont, Privy Council of Ireland, PC, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (12 July 16831 May 1748), known as Sir John Perceval, Bt, from 1691 to 1715, as The Lord Perceval from 1715 to 1722 and as The Viscount Perceval fr ...

, generally regarded as the man who gave the

colony of Georgia In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

its name (a tribute to Great Britain's King George II). It was renamed in 1763 to honor James Wright, the third and final royal governor of Georgia. Throughout its history it has also been known as Court House Square and Post Office Square; the present

Tomochichi Federal Building and United States Court House The Tomochichi Federal Building and United States Court House is a court house of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia located in Savannah, Georgia. It was built between 1894 and 1899, and substantially enlarged in ...

is adjacent to the west.Chan Sieg (1984). ''The squares: an introduction to Savannah''.

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

: Donning. The square is the burial site 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 ...

, a leader of the Creek nation of Native Americans. Tomochichi was a trusted friend of

James Oglethorpe James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British soldier, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, as well as the founder of the colony of Georgia in what was then British America. As a social reformer, he hoped to re ...

and assisted him in the founding of his colony. When Tomochichi died in 1739, Oglethorpe ordered him buried with military honors in the center of PercIval Square. In accordance with his people's customs the grave was marked by a pyramid of stones gathered from the surrounding area. In 1883, citizens wishing to honor

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 ...

replaced Tomochichi's monument with an elaborate and highly allegorical monument to Gordon, called the

William Washington Gordon Monument The William Washington Gordon Monument is a public monument in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Located in Wright Square, the monument honors politician and businessman William Washington Gordon and was designed by Henry Van Brunt and Frank ...

. William Gordon is thus the only native Savannahian honored with a monument in one of the city's squares. Gordon's own daughter-in-law, Nellie Gordon, objected strongly to this perceived insult to Tomochichi. She and other members of the Colonial Dames of the State of Georgia planned to erect a new monument to Tomochichi, made of

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 ...

from

Stone Mountain Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the small city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state o ...

. The Stone Mountain Monument Company offered the material at no cost. Mrs. Gordon felt that she was being condescended to and insisted on paying. The Monument Company sent her a bill—some sources say for 50 cents, others for one dollar—payable on

Judgment Day The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

. Mrs. Gordon paid the bill and attached a note explaining that on Judgment Day the Dames "would be too busy attending their own duties on that momentous day."''An Introduction to Historic Savannah''
by John Duncan, February 23, 2004, accessed June 14, 2007. The new monument was erected in 1899. It stands in the southeast corner of the square and eulogizes Tomochichi as a great friend of James Oglethorpe and the people of Georgia.Tour Guide Manual
for licensed tour guides in the City of Savannah, accessed June 16, 2007.City of Savannah's monuments page
This page links directly to numerous short entries, many accompanied by photographs, discussing a variety of monuments, memorials, etc., in the squares and elsewhere. Accessed June 16, 2007. 6 East State Street, in the northeastern tything lot of the square, doubled as Dixie's Flowers, the flower shop Mandy works at in ''

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'' is a non-fiction novel by John Berendt. The book, Berendt's first, was published in 1994 and follows the story of an antiques dealer on trial for the murder of a male prostitute. Subtitled ''A Savannah S ...

''.

Bradley Lock and Key Bradley Lock and Key, also known as Bradley's Locksmith, is a locksmiths located in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Established in 1883, it is the oldest business in operation in Savannah, and one of the oldest locksmith shops in the country.< ...

, located in the Patrick Duffy Building at 24 East State Street, also in the northeastern tything lot, is the oldest operating business in Savannah."New generation at Bradley's locksmiths"
– ''

Savannah Morning News The ''Savannah Morning News'' is a daily newspaper in Savannah, Georgia. It is published by Gannett. The motto of the paper is "Light of the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry". The paper serves Savannah, its metropolitan area, and parts of South Ca ...

'', September 7, 2019

Dedication

Markers and structures

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 The Oglethorpe Plan is an urban planning idea that was most notably used in Savannah, Georgia, one of the Thirteen Colonies, in the 18th century. The plan uses a distinctive street network with repeating squares of residential blocks, commercial ...

. They are listed with construction years where known. ;Northwestern residential/tything block *111–119 Bull Street (1907) *William Waring Property, 12 West State Street (1824–1825) – oldest building on the square *Edward Lovell Property, 14 West State Street (1853) *Isaac Morrell Building, 16 West State Street (1853) *18 West State Street (1916) ;Western civic/trust block *

, 125 Bull Street (1895) ;Southwestern residential/tything block *135–139 Bull Street (1875) *Lindsay & Morgan Building, 5–11 West York Street (1921) *Thomas Henderson Building, 15–21 West York Street (1890) ;Northeastern residential/tything block *6 East State Street (by 1900) *8 East State Street (1929) *14 East State Street (1908) *18 East State Street (1905) *Patrick Duffy Building, 24 East State Street (1885)A Key to Savannah
– Freemans Rag – presently the home of

*A. R. Altmeyer Building, 110–118 Bull Street (1892) ;Northeastern civic/trust block *Lutheran Church of the Ascension, 120 Bull Street (1878) ;Southeastern civic/trust block *Old Chatham County Court House, 124 Bull Street (1889)Historic Building Map: Savannah Historic District
– Historic Preservation Department of the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission (November 17, 2011), p. 22 ;Southeastern residential/tything block *Peter Ott Property, 15–19 East York Street (1892) *John Schwarz Building, 136–140 Bull Street (1890)

Gallery

File:6 East State Street (profile).jpg, 6 East State Street File:8 East State Street.jpg, 8 East State Street File:14 East State Street.jpg, 14 East State Street File:18 East State Street.jpg, 18 East State Street File:24 East State Street.jpg, Patrick Duffy Building, 24 East State Street File:110-118 Bull Street.jpg, A. R. Altmeyer Building, 110–118 Bull Street File:GA Savannah Fed Bldg Courthouse02.jpg, Tomochichi Federal Building and United States Court House, 125 Bull Street File:Chatham County Court House 2021c.jpg, Old Chatham County Court House, 124 Bull Street File:122_Bull_Street.jpg, Lutheran Church of the Ascension, 120 Bull Street File:135-139 Bull Street.jpg, 135–139 Bull Street File:136-140 Bull Street.jpg, John Schwarz Building, 136–140 Bull Street File:15-19 East York Street (2022).jpg, Peter Ott Property, 15–19 East York Street File:Lindsay & Morgan Building.jpg, Lindsay & Morgan Building, 5–11 West York Street File:Thomas Henderson Building.jpg, Thomas Henderson Building, 15–21 West York Street File:111-119 Bull Street.jpg, 111–119 Bull Street File:12_West_State_Street.jpg, William Waring Property, 12 West State Street File:14_West_State_Street.jpg, Edward Lovell Property, 14 West State Street File:16_West_State_Street.jpg, Isaac Morrell Building, 16 West State Street File:18_West_State_Street.jpg, 18 West State Street

References

{{Squares of Savannah, Georgia Wright Square, Savannah 1733 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies