As we continue to celebrate City Hall’s 120th birthday throughout 2026, we look back 123 years to February 1903 when City Council decided to replace the Savannah City Exchange with a new City Hall building at the intersection of Bay and Bull streets, and the subsequent reaction of the community.
A New City Hall, February 18, 1903 (taken from “The Birth of City Hall, 1903-1906”)
On February 18, 1903, Savannah’s City Council was presented with a report of the special committee appointed to determine the advisability of erecting a new city hall. The committee confirmed what many already believed, that the government’s current home in the old City Exchange building on Bay Street was terribly inadequate and money spent on its repair wasted. That the government needed a new home was not really in question; rather, where that new home would be built was up for debate. The committee proposed erecting a new city hall on the site where the City Exchange stood, reasoning that not only would the Exchange site continue to be the financial, political and commercial heart of Savannah, but the City could save money by using land it already owned. The proposal was met with approval by the Council members and adopted. The special committee was enlarged to five members, including Mayor Herman Myers and Aldermen Daniel R. Thomas, Richard J. Davant, James M. Dixon and W. J. Watson. Five-hundred dollars ($500) was appropriated for them to use towards securing plans, specifications and estimates for a new modern building to represent the growing City.
City Exchange, 1904
City of Savannah Municipal Archives
During the same session, Council was presented with a proposition from Thomas H. Gignilliat, of Gignilliat & Smith, architects, to draw plans for a new city hall. The proposal, read and received as information by Council, indicates that there was already much excitement and talk in Savannah regarding the proposed building.
Report of Special Committee on Site for New City Hall:
The special committee appointed to take into consideration the advisability of erecting a new city hall, beg to report after a thorough investigation of the situation and the most careful consideration of the city’s finances, that in its opinion a new municipal building is urgently needed and steps should at once be taken looking to the erection of a modern and adequate building as soon as possible. At present the city departments have not the proper room in which to carry on their work, and their operations and usefulness are hampered as a result. It is impossible by the expenditure of any reasonable sum to make the present City Exchange suitable for the purposes of the city government. Money expended upon it is largely wasted. Provisions should be made for a building in which there will be ample quarters for all of the departments, in which the committees of Council will have meeting rooms, in which suitable chambers will be provided for the Mayor, and in which a large room will be had for meetings of Council and for public gatherings.
Your committee after studying the situation closely feels satisfied that the site of the present Exchange is in every way suitable for a new hall. It is easily accessible from all parts of the city and will remain the center of business interests. Being the property of the city its use for this purpose will save the city in the neighborhood of $100,000, or almost enough to erect a fine building. We would accordingly recommend that Council decide upon the erection of a new city hall on the site of the present Exchange; that an appropriation of $500 be made and this committee, or another committee especially appointed for the purpose, be authorized to extend all or part of the same in securing plans, specifications and estimates for a building which will provide ample room for the needs of the municipality for many years to come.
Respectfully submitted,
HERMAN MYERS,
D. R. THOMAS,
R. J. DAVANT,
Committee.
Upon motion of Alderman Dixon, the report was adopted, an appropriation of $500 was made, and the committee increased to five, Aldermen Dixon and Watson being added -- the committee now standing as follows: The Mayor, Aldermen Thomas, Davant, Dixon and Watson.
Citizens Support New City Hall , February 20, 1903
On February 20, 1903, the Savannah Morning News ran an article which summed up the feelings of many in the city regarding City Council’s decision to build a new municipal building on the site of the City Exchange. The Exchange building, located on Bay Street at the foot of Bull Street, was not only at the center of Factors’ Walk and the commercial district, but literally at the beginning of Savannah’s history, near the site where General James Edward Oglethorpe first pitched his tent in 1733. Council’s decision to remain on Bay Street “struck a popular chord” with merchants who believed that relocating the seat of City government would amount to a “death blow” to the strip of firms, stores and warehouses. While “on the other hand, a modern building at the foot of the city’s most prominent promenade would give back to Bay street some of the life and spirit that it has lost.”
Sources:
“A New City Hall Soon to Be Built.” Savannah Evening Press (19 February 1903) 5:6.
“For a New City Hall.” Savannah Morning News (19 February 1903) 10:1.
Official Proceedings of City Council (18 February 1903) 28. City of Savannah, Clerk of Council’s Office, Savannah, Georgia.
Report of Hon. Herman Myers, Mayor…of the City of Savannah, Ga., Year Ending December 31st 1903…. Savannah, Ga.: The Morning News Print, 1904. pp 432-433.
To learn more about the planning and construction of Savannah’s City Hall see the City Hall Centennial history documents: