The Georgia Historical Society (GHS), in partnership with the City of Savannah, requests approval to erect a new historical marker that narrates the history of the Montmollin Building, illustrating its use as both a brokerage that held and sold enslaved people, as well as its time as Bryan School, a school for freed Black people in Savannah after emancipation. The historical marker highlights the efforts made by Savannah’s Black community to gain an education during the Civil War and immediately following emancipation on a local, statewide, and national level. The proposed location for the historical marker is in the public right-of-way adjacent to the Montmollin Building at 23 Barnard Street, the building in which these events occurred.

The marker will read as follows:

The Montmollin Building and Bryan School

Banker and slave trader John S. Montmollin commissioned the adjacent building (c.1856) for his business. After Montmollin’s death, Alexander Bryan continued using the building to hold and sell enslaved people. When US General William T. Sherman captured Savannah in December 1864, the US government, implementing emancipation, confiscated the building and provided it to Savannah’s African-American community, which formed the Savannah Educational Association (SEA) to fund and establish schools. This building became the site of Bryan School. On January 10, 1865, at the school’s opening, hundreds of Black children marched here from First African Baptist Church. SEA schoolchildren publicly showcased their knowledge of grammar, history, geography, arithmetic, and other subjects in July 1865. The American Missionary Association, a northern benevolence organization, absorbed SEA and founded the Beach Institute in 1867, consolidating several schools, including Bryan School.

Erected by the Georgia Historical Society and the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah

The Historic Site and Monument Commission recommends approval to the Savannah City Council for the application to install the freestanding historical marker as requested because the project meets the standards in the Master Plan and Guidelines for Markers, Monuments, and Public Art.