SAVANNAH: UNION STATION

Posted September 10, 2024

Savannah Union Station before-and-after it was demolished for construction of I-16 and “urban renewal” in the 1960s. Before the station was replaced with a highway ramp, it was one of the primary commercial anchors and economic drivers of West Broad Street, historically the heart of Savannah’s Black and immigrant community. A new plan will attempt to repair the damage: starting this year, the city will begin studying removing the highway and stitching the neighborhood back together, through the Biden/Harris Administration’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Initiative (RCN)(1).

This post is part of my ongoing collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Local Infrastructure Hub to highlight the history of cities which have been awarded funding for reconnection through the RCN, particularly in often-overlooked small- and mid-sized cities like Savannah. See previous posts for more info.

One of the oldest cities in the South, Savannah has long had a large Black population due to its prominence as a slave port. The neighborhood I-16 replaced was established by freed slaves shortly after the end of the Civil War. Called “Frogtown” due to the many frogs from the nearby Springfield Canal, the community was centered around West Broad Street (first image and previous post) on what was then the edge of the city, as Jim Crow segregation prevented the Black population from living more centrally. One block over from West Broad, Montgomery St was the dividing line between the Black residential area and a growing community of Jewish and Asian immigrants, also prevented from living more centrally. West Broad served as the main commercial drag for both of these communities, turning the area into a multicultural hub (2).

With the arrival of the railroads in the late 1800s, the rail companies built passenger and freight terminals on West Broad, and the street became the primary connection between the trains and the working riverfront. This role as the critical link between the rail ports and the river ports fueled commercial development on the corridor (3).

The construction of Union Station in 1901 in particular boosted the area’s economy due to the considerable passenger traffic. For decades, Union Station was Savannah’s primary point of entry, with dozens of trains a day from across Georgia and the country at large. While the station was segregated inside, with separate Black and white waiting rooms and facilities (second image), passengers stepping out of the station found themselves in the heart of Frogtown, surrounded by Black-owned businesses, including the Dunbar Theater, Royall Funeral Home, the Guaranty Insurance Company, the Savannah Pharmacy (all of which can be seen in the previous post), and many more. 

Many of these businesses and dozens of homes were ultimately destroyed for construction of the highway flyover. Senator Raphael Warnock, raised in the shadow of the flyover, described the highway’s impact on his neighborhood in a letter advocating for its removal: 

“The Old West Broad Street, which is the new MLK Jr. Boulevard was once the center of a thriving community and home to Black families and businesses, as well as many Asian and Jewish immigrants… However, in the 1960s, the federal government demolished and paved over landmark buildings, homes, and businesses for a new highway spur,” writes Warnock. “It is a dream of mine to see that community restored” (4).

The RCN has provided funding to start making that dream into a reality. Savannah has been awarded $1.8 million to study removing the highway spur, including the creation of an equitable redevelopment plan. According to Director of Planning Bridget Lidy, the plan “ensures any future use of the site gives back to the community,” including, crucially, the construction of affordable and workforce housing in place of the highway to help support businesses in the area and prevent gentrification (5). More on this plan as it develops.

The Local Infrastructure Hub provided critical guidance to Savannah in the development of its successful RCN application, along with other small cities in Georgia, Alabama, Iowa, and more. More on these to come in upcoming posts.

The Local Infrastructure Hub is a national program guiding municipalities in how to navigate historic federal funding opportunities, develop competitive grant applications, and bring essential investment home to residents. Led by Bloomberg Philanthropies which galvanizes support from the Ballmer Group, Emerson Collective, Ford Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Waverley Street Foundation, National League of Cities, The U.S. Conference of Mayors, Results for America, and Delivery Associates, the Local Infrastructure Hub is a first-of-its-kind initiative helping thousands of mostly small towns and mid-size cities  improve their communities for generations to come.

"We don’t want the Infrastructure Law [that created the RCN] to compound our geographic inequalities. We wanted it to be an equalizing moment," said James Anderson, head of the Government Innovation Program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, in an interview with Streetsblog. "We are asking local governments to do more and more, but we haven’t made a commensurate investment to help them do it… This is an opportunity to reduce the number of places that have been left out and left behind.” (8).

Endnotes:

1. Steuteville, Robert. “Historic Chance to Remove Highway Barrier, Reconnect Community.” Congress for the New Urbanism, 2022. https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2022/11/22/historic-opportunity-remove-barrier-reconnect-community (accessed 8/15/24). (@cnu_newurbanism).

2. Nicholson, Zoe. “West Broad Remembered: How a thriving, multicultural community came undone by ‘renewal.” Savannah Morning News, 2022. https://eu.savannahnow.com/story/news/2022/10/27/before-interstate-16-savannahs-west-broad-thriving-commercial-corridor-georgia/10476325002/ (accessed 8/15/2024).

3. Sottile & Sottile. “Reclaiming Old West Broad.” I-16 Exit Ramp Removal Project. https://reclaimingoldwestbroad.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/chapter-2-history-and-evolution.pdf (accessed 8/15/2024).

4. Steuteville, Robert.

5. Lasseter, Evan. “Savannah Awarded Key Grant to Plan I-16 Flyover Removal, Receives Support from Senator Warnock.” Savannah Morning News, 2024. https://eu.savannahnow.com/story/business/transportation/2024/03/15/savannah-awarded-key-grant-to-plan-i-16-flyover-removal/72943843007/ (accessed 8/15/2024). (@savannahnow).

6. “91% of Cities Say Insufficient Funding Delaying Critical Infrastructure Investments.” National League of Cities, 2021. https://www.nlc.org/post/2021/05/10/91-of-cities-say-insufficient-funding-delaying-critical-infrastructure-investments/ (accessed 8/15/2024). 

7. Sisson, Patrick. “For US Cities in Need, Grant Writers Wanted.” Citylab, 2024. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-06-14/grant-writers-in-demand-as-smaller-cities-scramble-for-infrastructure-funds (accessed 8/15/2024). (@citylab).

8. Wilson, Kea. “How a New Program is Helping Small Cities Transform Their Transportation Systems.” Streetsblog, 2024. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/08/21/how-a-new-program-is-helping-small-cities-transform-their-transportation-systems (accessed 8/31/2024). (@keareads).