Originally named Percival Square when laid out with the ward in 1733, Wright Square was renamed by 1762 after Sir James Wright, the third and last royal governor of Georgia (1760–1782). The space was colloquially known as “Courthouse Square” in recognition of the presence of a county courthouse on the southeast trust lot since 1735. From 1882 to the end of that decade, a metal moonlight tower (one of six erected in Savannah) of arc lights stood south of the Gordon Monument (2.31) and rose to a height of approximately 130 feet. Essentially a stopgap measure to get urban areas illuminated as cheaply and quickly as possible, the tall yet flimsy towers only lasted a few years here (one was knocked over by a cow), where the dense tree canopy rendered them less successful than in cities like Austin, Texas, where seventeen of thirty-one survive.
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Wright Square
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