Mayors of Savannah: Peter Meldrim

Savannah has had some amazing mayors for the good and bad. In the next few weeks, we will examine the lives of some of these mayors. The first is Peter Wiltberger Meldrim (1848-1933) a Savannahian who became one of our most influential citizens. He went to school in Savannah and later graduated with a law degree from the University of Georgia.

Meldrim had a lifetime interest in the law and politics. He began practicing law in Savannah in 1869 and was president of the Georgia Bar Association in 1904 and in 1914 was the president of the American Bar Association. He would serve in both the Georgia House of Representatives and in the Senate in 1881. He was Mayor of Savannah beating then renowned Mayor Herman Myers in 1897. After his term was over he decided not to run again. He was selected in 1917 to serve as Judge of the Superior Court of the Eastern Judicial Circuit which he served until his death. He would be the chair of the Georgia delegation to the Democratic National Convention held in Denver, Colorado in 1907.
Probably one of the things that spurred his successful mayoral run was because he was president of the Hibernian Society from 1887 to 1912. In 1812 the Hibernian Society of Savannah was organized by forty-four prominent Savannah gentlemen for the purpose of tendering aid to needy Irish immigrants. Since 1813 the Hibernian Society has been responsible for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade one of the largest in the United States.

In 1892, Meldrim bought the house that had served as Sherman’s Savannah headquarters in 1864. It was from this house that the Union general wrote a telegram to President Lincoln offering him Savannah as a “Christmas present.” It’s also where Sherman, meeting with 20 African-American leaders in January 1865, signed his Special Field Order 15. That order confiscated abandoned plantations along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts to give to freed slaves in 40-acre parcels. (A later order gave them Union mules. Both orders were rescinded within months.) Today the house is called the Green-Meldrim House and is one of the finest examples of a Gothic architecture residence in the South.

Another interest of his was providing housing for the poorer of this world. One of his adventures led to an unincorporated town named after him Meldrim. When the railroad came through the South Effingham community, on hunting land owned by Meldrim was surveyed into lots selling for $25-$50 each. The lots, next to the railroad tracks, became a small business district. The railroad tracks crossed over the Ogeechee River. Underneath the tracks a popular swimming spot developed for locals to escape the heat.

On the Sunday, June 28, some 35-50 people were sitting on the riverbank, swimming or standing by the clubhouse.  A freight train with several cars filled with liquid petroleum gas traveling toward Savannah derailed and fell into the water. A spark, from something caused the train itself, caused the gas to explode. The second propane car loaded with 10,000 gallons of the gas ignited next. This explosion caused sheets of gas flames to sweep the river killing twenty-three people. “The disaster is the largest single loss of life in the Savannah area in modern memory, outpacing the February 2008 explosion at Imperial Sugar in Port Wentworth, where 14 people lost their lives.”

Recently, another Meldrim housing venture was in the news. A block of cottages were slated for demolition to make room for a police precinct called Meldrim Row. These cottages were developed beginning in the 1880s as housing for black workers. In total there were 36 wood frame cottages.
Some preservationists and neighborhood advocates protested the destruction of the cottages. They said the cottages were important historically because they represented a type of housing important in its function as simple homes for the black community. Neighborhood activists said that housing added to the fabric of the community and offered low cost housing opportunities.  In the end the city did not agree and the cottages were demolished.

  Besides politics one of his other interests was in education. Because of his advocacy for education to blacks he was selected to help establish Georgia State Industrial School now the Savannah State University in 1891. When President William Howard Taft visited Savannah in 1912, Judge Meldrim proudly escorted the President on a tour of the college’s campus.  He would serve on the board until his death in 1933 a total of forty-two years. He was also serving as a trustee of the University of Georgia his alma mater at his death.
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As many of our mayors he had a diverse life and was exemplary in his efforts in working to make Savannah a better place.

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Green-Meldrim House

Meldrim Train Wreck