Two of the most important public buildings of the colony, the Filature and the New Council House, were erected on the northeast and southeast trust lots, respectively, overlooking Reynolds Square. Constructed in 1751, the Filature reflected the goal of establishing a silk industry in the Georgia colony. It burned in 1758, but was promptly rebuilt (1758–1759) by Peter Tondee and Benjamin Goldwire and continued in operation until 1771. The building hosted city council meetings from 1790 until the council moved to the City Exchange in 1812, as well as public gatherings (including a ball for George Washington’s visit), schools, a theater and concert hall, barracks and a hospital, and boarding houses. It was destroyed by fire in 1839. The New Council House, originally constructed as a second filature, was just a shell in 1754–1755 when Noble Jones completed it to replace an earlier Council House located on the southwest trust lot overlooking Percival (Wright) Square, which had collapsed while the council was in session in November 1754. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read for the first time in Georgia at a meeting of the Colonial Assembly inside the New Council House, followed by a second reading out front in Reynolds Square, and two more readings elsewhere in the city. From 1877 until 1946 a streetcar line ran through the square in line with Abercorn Street. The rather staid John Wesley Monument and surrounding landscaping (1969, Marshall Daugherty, sculptor) honors the founder of Methodism, who came to Savannah as the Trustee-appointed minister to Georgia (1736–1737). His parsonage was on the southwest trust lot overlooking this square.