207 E Gordon St
Savannah, GA 31401, USA

Massie Common School House (Massie School) - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:

The Massie Common School House located in Savannah, is significant for its architectural character, historic associations, community function, and educational role. The building, whose north facade fronts historic Calhoun Square, is in Savannah 's "Old City" area laid out by General James Edward Oglethorpe in 1733 as Georgia's first settlement.

Calhoun Square is the most intact of Savannah 's open planes. "There are no gaps” or adverse intrusions on this square, and Massie School forms an important visual anchor for the City Plan at this point. The fact that the physical structure of the school was enlarged by two additional wings which repeated the central block, retaining the rhythm of the street facade and complementing the scale of adjacent buildings, gives a model for developers today."

Opened in 1856 "for the education of the poor children," Massie is the only remaining original building of Georgia's first public school system. Built for a free and public school, it had been operating for almost a decade before the Board of Education for the Cit of Savannah and the County of Chatham was established by an Act of the Georgia Legislature in 1866.

Massie has served educational purposes exclusively except briefly in 1865 when the building housed wounded Federal troops. The unadorned masses and fine proportions of the Massie Common School House are Greek Revival at its simplest and best, entirely appropriate to the introduction of the public school system.

The square and the school for generations has been centers of citizens activity.
Newspapers and old records are replete with accounts of mass meetings, May Day celebration and even public examinations of the students.

Massie School was designed by the New York-born architect John S. Norris, whose work is now being recognized in national circles as a result of the research of Mary Morrison. The Victorian Society in America and its Savannah chapter have urged the restoration of the Massie Common School House.

Educational opportunity in Savannah in the first half of the nineteenth century was largely a private affair with many individual school masters running their own little schools. There was much rivalry-often very bitter-among these usually one-teacher schools. Ignorance was abroad in the land also, for hundreds of indigent children had no educational opportunity whatsoever.

Then into this maelstrom Peter Massie of Glynn County, Georgia, dropped the seed money for the Massie Common School and, indirectly, for Savannah's present school system. Mr. Massie, a Scotchman who had migrated to America, bequeathed in 1841 - $5,000 "for the education of the poor children of Savannah to be applied for that purpose, in such a manner as the corporate authorities of said city shall direct." Steamship passenger lists from old newspapers show that Mr. Massie had sailed regularly in the spring from Savannah to New York and returned in the fall. He had no doubt seen many times the hordes of unschooled children roaming Savannah 's dusty streets.

But counsel for the city had to prosecute the claim to obtain Mr.. Massie's bequest which then was wisely invested until "a large enough sum should be accumulated" for building. The Massie fund increased and on April 5, 1855, City Council by resolution decreed that $9,000 of the fund be devoted to the erection of a building to be known as the Massie Common School House. Construction began in December 1855, and the new school opened in October 1856. From Peter Massie's bequest enough, money had accrued to build, equip, and operate the school for the first year.

An ordinance was passed by City Council on December 24, 1856 to the effect that the mayor, four aldermen and four citizens at large, to be appointed by the mayor, should constitute a Board of Commissioners for the care, support, and management of Hassie Common School. Another feature of the ordinance gave the Hassie Commissioners authority to make "such rules and regulations for the government of said school as they may deem expedient; such rules and regulations to be reported to the City Council. . •and when approved by Council shall be of full force." Also the ordinance stipulated "for the support of said school there shall be appropriated annually out of the City Treasury a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars."

The school year 1864-65 began normally for Massie School, as reflected in the minutes of the institution's Commissioners which are e now in the possession of the Board of Education. On December 21, 1864, when Sherman took Savannah, many inhabitants fled. There is a hiatus in the minutes for several months when no written records were kept; but it is logical to conclude that school was in recess. The Federal troops temporarily took over all public buildings.

Minutes of May 3, 1865 show that "the Massie School building had already been assigned by Major Gilmore for a school for the Freedmen." Other old unpublished records at the Board of Education (Savannah 's Public Schools, Albert S. Otto, p. 406) state. the Rev. S.W. Magill, a native of Georgia and agent of the American Missionary Association in Connecticut, came from the North with a corps of competent teachers and opened a school in the· Methodist church on South Broad Street (now 304 East Oglethorpe Avenue). At the close of the first week 300 children and 118 women were enrolled, the school soon outgrew its quarters here and was removed to Massie School on Gordon Street, which building was assigned to this service by General Grover, commander of the district."

Apparently, Massie School was used by the freedmen only two or three months before the structure was returned to the Massie Commissioners for its normal operation. At this time--late summer of 1865--the school must have been almost devoid of furniture. Minutes of October 7, 1865, include a letter to the Commanding General which states: "The Board of Education appointed under General Order No. 33 would respectfully call your attention to the fact that the Massie School furniture
was all destroyed by General Sherman 's army while in use as a Corps Hospital, and used for firewood." General Brannan gave half the money, City Council the other half, for refurnishing the school.

How different is Massie's story from that of other buildings burned during Sherman’s, march to the sea. The General Order o: December 26, 1984 for disposition of troops
in Savannah from L. M. Dayton, Aide-de-Camp, by order of Major General W. T. Sherman reads: " . . .churches, schools, and all places of amusement and recreation, should be encouraged . . ." In a letter to his wife, General Sherman wrote: "I doubt if Savannah, either before or since, has had a better government than during our stay. schools were opened .. ."("War Is Hell:", The Beehive Press, Savannah, 1974-pp. 182,185).

Actually, a tax had been imposed by the encamped militarists upon the citizens to support a system of schools; a Board of Education and a superintendent were appointed, and buildings were assigned. Under this now-unified organization, education continued in Savannah and at the Massie Common School House until the spring of 1866 when the Georgia Legislature passed the Act under which public education officially began in the mother city.

The Massie Cannon School House, whose beauty lies in its dignity and simplicity, retains its original "suitable yard rooms", the brick walls, the old bell in the belfry, the twin curving stairs with their mahogany rails and spindles, the Grecian molding, and the fluted columns. Even the mid-nineteenth century furnace is still in the basement: The stone steps, however, have been worn thin by the feet of many generations of boys and girls who passed through the old building 's lofty front doors, later to become men and women of distinction in the city, state and nation.

According to the Savannah Morni.ng News of September 23, 1932, "No public bequest ever made in Savannah has probably reaped a harvest of greater value to the community than that of the Scotchman Peter Massie." As the
late J. Frederick Waring, former president of the Georgia Historical Society, wrote in 1969, "The special significance of this school warrants its preservation as an historic monument and as a going concern."

FUTURE PLANS

Present plans call for the exterior to be returned to its original appearance with warm beige-colored scored stucco, blinds, stone name, and lofty doors. The interior vestibule, anterooms, twin stairs and one floor of the central portion are to be restored for educational and community use, to include an authentic "heritage classroom" as a living museum where students on field trips can actually experience "schooling" of a past era. The other floor of the central portion and both wings are to have an adaptive use, serving the school system as a professional library and materials (or media center.

Excerpted from an article by Saxon P. Bargeron.

This property is located in the Savannah Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.