Old Savannah Cotton Exchange

The Savannah Cotton Exchange building was completed in 1887, when Savannah ranked first as a cotton seaport on the Atlantic and second in the world. In the city's heyday as a cotton port, more than two million bales a year moved through Savannah. The Cotton Exchange stood at the center of the trade that dominated Savannah's economic life before the city's evolution into a leading industrial seaport. It was designed by the nationally known Boston architect William Gibbons Preston, whose plan prevailed in a competition involving eleven architects. The building is believed to be one of the few structures in the world erected over an existing public street. The iron railing around the nearby grass plat, with panels featuring medallions of famous statesmen, authors, and poets, once adorned Savannah's antebellum Wetter House.

Savannah, Georgia · United States