The Savannah City Council officially approved earlier today the final phase (Phase 2) of a plan to erect a new monument in Columbia Square dedicated to the seven female preservationists who saved the Isaiah Davenport House. The plan was approved by a unanimous vote at a City Council meeting held at the Eli Whitney Complex in Savannah, Ga.

The monument will honor Katharine Judkins Clark, Elinor Adler Dillard, Anna Colquitt Hunter, Lucy Barrow McIntire, Dorothy Ripley Roebling, Nola McEvoy Roos and Jane Adair Wright, who joined forces to raise $22,500 to purchase the Davenport House in order to protect this iconic 1820 federal-style building from being razed to create a funeral home parking lot. Seeing the need for a permanent organization dedicated to saving historic buildings in the city, the seven preservationists founded Historic Savannah Foundation in 1955.

The effort to design, build and install the new monument in 2024 was led by descendants of the seven preservationists.

“We’re incredibly grateful to Mayor Van Johnson and the Savannah City Council for supporting the plans to install a permanent monument to seven brave women who initiated the preservation movement in Savannah, which helped to revitalize our city,” said Lucy Brannen, the granddaughter of Lucy McIntire, who helped lead the initiative to install a permanent monument. “This monument will serve as a meaningful, enduring addition to Columbia Square where the movement began.”

The new monument will be fabricated by Savannah’s own DePue Monument Company and will be installed at the edge of the brick paving centered behind two existing benches in the northern part of Columbia Square in the summer of 2025 to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the saving of the Davenport House and the founding of Historic Savannah Foundation.

“We’re thrilled that a permanent monument will celebrate the vision of seven inspiring Savannah preservation leaders who changed the course of our city’s history,” said Sue Adler, CEO and President of Historic Savannah Foundation. “All of us at Historic Savannah Foundation are deeply honored to share their story and appreciate the hard work that went into designing, reviewing and approving this important new monument.”

Surrounded by beautiful landscaping and views of Historic Savannah Foundation’s Davenport House Museum, Murray C. Perlman and Wayne C. Spear Preservation Center and HSF headquarters on Columbia Square, the new granite monument will feature two bronze plaques and portraits of each of the seven women in bas relief. Following the listing of the preservationists’ names, the plaque will provide a brief description of their accomplishments:

“These seven ladies are recognized and honored in grateful recognition and lasting appreciation of their heroic effort in 1955 to save the Davenport House from demolition and to inspire the preservation of historic structures in the city of Savannah. Their success in raising the necessary funds to purchase the house provided the catalyst to found Historic Savannah Foundation with a group of like-minded Savannah residents. This proved to be the turning point to limit destruction of the remaining historic structures in the city and to establish basic guidelines for future preservation efforts.”

Representatives of the descendants of the seven founders -- with support from the City of Savannah’s Park and Tree Commission, current Historic Savannah Foundation staff and representatives from DePue Monument Company -- worked on the planning and development of the monument and petition that was originally approved by the Savannah-Chatham County Historic Site and Monument Commission in July 2024.

Plans will continue for the installation and unveiling of the monument in Columbia Square. Details about a public unveiling in 2025 will be announced at a later date.