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In keeping with the squares in the eastern expansion wards, Franklin Square is roughly half the size of those within Oglethorpe’s original six wards. From 1853 to the early twentieth century it was marked by an 87-foot-tall brick and iron water tower. Franklin, Liberty, and Elbert squares were largely obliterated by the transformation of Montgomery Street into U.S. 17 between 1935 and 1937, but Franklin Square—a gathering place for day laborers for decades, both before and after its destruction—was restored in 1985. In 2007 a monument to Haitian Volunteers (James Mastin, sculptor) who fought in the Battle of Savannah in 1779 was erected in the center of the square.