Savannah
Savannah names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Savannah a city and county-seat of Chatham co.
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city and county-seat of Chatham co., Ga.; on the Savannah river, 18 miles from its mouth, and on the Central of Georgia, the Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard Air Line, and the Southern railroads: 90 miles S. W. of Charleston. It is built on a bluff of sand, about 40 feet above low water, and has a water frontage of about 3 miles, the city receding about 2 miles from the river. Business Interests. Next to New Orleans, Savannah is the most important commercial city in the South. The largest vessels can enter the harbor, and the river is navigable as far as Augusta. There is regular steamboat communication with Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Liverpool, and the principal Southern cities. It holds the second place in the United States as a cotton emporium, and also exports in large quantities rice, lumber, fertilizers, and naval stores. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1919, the value of imports aggregated $16,747,224; exports, $341,171,319. In 1914 the investment in industrial enterprises was $10,- 247,000, and the value of the product was $6,709,000. There are National and several other banks, and a large number of daily and weekly newspapers. The assessed property valuations exceed $60,- 000,000, and the total bonded debt is about $6,700,000. Public Interests. - The city has an area of 6.8 square miles; an excellent street system; a system of waterworks that cost $1,250,000; and a sewer system covering nearly 25 miles. The streets are lighted by electricity. There is a public school enrollment of over 10,000 pupils, and annual expenditures for public education of about $200,000. The city contains a custom house, court house, Guard's Arsenal, Chatham Academy, Cotton Exchange, Telfair Academy of Arts, a medical college, Convent_of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Joseph's Infirmary, Episcopal Orphans' Home, and other charitable institutions. History. Savannah was founded in 1733 by General Oglethorpe. In 1776 a British fleet, attempting to take the town, was repulsed after a severe action; and it was taken in 1778, and held in October, 1779, against the combined American and French forces. In the latter action Count Pulaski was killed. Savannah received its city charter in 1789. During the Civil War it was blockaded by the Federal navy, and on Dec. 12, 1864, it was occupied by General Sherman. Pop. (1910) 65,064; (1920) 83,252.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the chief seaport of Georgia. It is situated on the Savannah River, about fifteen miles from the ocean. The city has a total water frontage of six miles. It was settled by Oglethorpe in 1733. It repelled an attack of the British in 1776, but was taken by them two years later. During the Civil War it was an important center of supplies for the Confederate army. Sherman's famous march to the sea, December 21, 1864, terminated with the capture of the city. In addition to steamship connections with the Atlantic ports, Savannah is the terminus of several lines of railway. The city has many creditable public buildings and has an excellent reputation for the management of municipal affairs. Since the Civil War it has become a manufacturing center of no little importance. There are oil mills, foundries, sawmills, sash and door factories, and flour mills on an extensive scale. The manufacture of artificial ice is an important industry. It is the largest market in the world for naval stores . Immense quantities of tar, pitch, and turpentine are shipped. It is also the greatest cotton port on the Atlantic coast. Rice, lumber, tobacco, and fertilizers are important exports. In 1909 the population was 72,000. See Oglethorpe ; Georgia
Savannah a river of the United States
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a river of the United States, which forms the N. E. boundary of Georgia, and separates it from South Carolina. It is formed by the junction of the Tugaloo and Kiowee, 100 miles by the course of the river above Augusta, and is navigable to the city of Savannah for vessels drawing over 28 feet.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 measured Savannah by cotton bales and naval stores, calling it second in the United States as a cotton emporium, while Aiton's in 1910 named it the world's largest market for tar, pitch and turpentine. Both trades collapsed in the twentieth century; today the Port of Savannah handles containers instead, with the Garden City Terminal ranking among the busiest container facilities in the United States, and the shipping channel deepened to about 47 feet in a project completed in the early 2020s. The upper river Collier's called navigable to Augusta was dammed in the mid-century for the Hartwell, Richard B. Russell and J. Strom Thurmond reservoirs, and the Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina, built from 1950, made plutonium and tritium for nuclear weapons on its banks. The city itself, 83,252 people in 1920, passed 147,000 by 2020, and the grid of squares laid out under Oglethorpe — nearly lost to demolition until the Historic Savannah Foundation organized in 1955 — is now a National Historic Landmark district and the basis of a large tourist economy.
Written for this edition, 2026.