Banker and slave trader John S. Montmollin commissioned this building around 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 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. Savannah Educational Association 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 Savannah Educational Association and founded the Beach Institute in 1867, consolidating several schools, including Bryan School.