Savannah, GA (SAV)

2611 Seaboard Coastline Drive
Savannah, GA 31401

Station Ownership

Facility:
Savannah Economic Development Authority

Parking:
Savannah Economic Development Authority

Platform(s):
CSX

Track(s):
CSX

Amtrak Contact

Todd Stennis

Routes Served:

• Palmetto
• Silver Meteor
• Silver Star

History

The Savannah station is located to the west of old town Savannah and slightly south and west of the Savannah River. The station consists of a modern brick and concrete terminal building, built in 1962 by the Atlantic Coast Line, with a platform between the tracks. The station was built with funds channeled through the Georgia Ports Authority to the city of Savannah as part of redevelopment. It served the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line until Amtrak took over passenger service in 1971.

The original Savannah Union Station was designed by architect Frank Pierce Milburn and completed in 1902 at a cost of $150,000. It was an example of Spanish Renaissance and Elizabethan styles, the main feature of which was an octagonal rotunda measuring 80 feet in diameter, which served as the general waiting room. Exterior walls were made of pressed brick with granite and terra cotta trimmings. In 1963, the station was demolished to make way for an interstate highway interchange.

The city of Savannah is the largest city and county seat for Chatham County, Georgia. On February 12, 1733, General James Oglethorpe and his settlers landed on Yamacraw Bluff, and were greeted by Tomochichi, the Yamacraw chief and John and Mary Musgrove, Indian traders. While the founding of the city dates from this event, European incursion into the coastal Georgia area dates from the late sixteenth century, when the Spanish explored the southeastern American coast. In 1751, Georgia became a Royal Colony, and Savannah its capital. Between 1764 and 1773, a flourishing export trade in deer hides from upriver established the city as a significant commercial port on the South Atlantic coast.

During the American Revolutionary War, Savannah came under British and Loyalist control; American and French troops were unsuccessful in attempts to take the city. During the American Civil War, Savannah is remembered as the destination of General Sherman’s devastating Union army March to the Sea from Atlanta, with more than 62,000 men, where he arrived on December 22, 1864. Sherman sent a famous Christmas telegram to President Abraham Lincoln, in which he presented the city of Savannah with 25,000 bales of cotton.

By 1870, three principal railroads connected the city to markets along the coast and the interior. Cotton brokerage as well as rail transportation to Savannah’s port made the city quite wealthy in the nineteenth century. Heavy industry and manufacturing replaced cotton transport and trade in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the city’s economy shifted as more heavy industry was added upriver.

In the 1930s and 1940s, many of the distinguished buildings in the historic district were demolished to create parking lots, and many of the cities squares bisected to allow automobile traffic. The demolition of the 1870 City Market and the attempted demolition of the 1821 Davenport House prompted seven Georgia women to create the Historic Savannah Foundation, which was able to preserve the city from further destruction. The founding of the Savannah College of Art and Design in 1979 also began a process of renovation and adaptive reuse that has contributed much to the city’s rebirth.

The city’s popularity as a tourist destination was solidified by the best-selling book and subsequent movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which were set in Savannah.

The Girl Scouts of America were founded in Savannah in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low. Her childhood home now serves as the Girl Scouts’ National Headquarters, to be toured by appointment.

This facility has a waiting room and is staffed by Amtrak employees.

Savannah is served by six daily trains.

ADA Compliance

Federal law requires compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by 2010. The following is a list of items typically required for transportation and public facilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Please check the regulations for guidance or contact us for more information.