Chippewa Square (Savannah, Georgia)

Chippewa Square is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the middle row of the city's five rows of squares, on Bull Street and McDonough Street, and was laid out in 1815. It is south of Wright Square, west of Colonial Park Cemetery, north of Madison Square and east of Orleans Square. The oldest building on the square is The Savannah Theatre, at 222 Bull Street, which dates to 1818.

Chippewa Square

The south-facing James Oglethorpe Monument, viewed from where the bench in Forrest Gump was located for its 1993 filming
Namesake	Battle of Chippawa
Maintained by	City of Savannah
Location	Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Coordinates	32.0758°N 81.0931°W / 32.0758; -81.0931
North	Bull Street
East	East McDonough Street
South	Bull Street
West	West McDonough Street
Construction
Completion	1815 (1815)

The square named in honor of American soldiers killed in the Battle of Chippawa during the War of 1812. (The spelling "Chippewa" is correct in reference to this square.)

In the center of the square is the James Oglethorpe Monument, created by sculptor Daniel Chester French and architect Henry Bacon and unveiled in 1910.[1] Oglethorpe faces south, toward Georgia's one-time enemy in Spanish Florida, and his sword is drawn.[2] Busts of Confederate figures Francis Stebbins Bartow and Lafayette McLaws were moved from Chippewa Square to Forsyth Park to make room for the Oglethorpe monument.[3] Due to the location of the monument, Savannahians sometimes refer to this as Oglethorpe Square, but that is located just to the northeast.[4]

The "park bench" scene which opens the 1994 film Forrest Gump was filmed on the north side of Chippewa Square.[5] The bench was a fiberglass prop, rather than one of the park's actual benches.[1] A replica of the prop bench used in the film is on display at the Savannah Visitors Center. The original prop is now kept in Paramount Studios, Los Angeles.[6]

Chippewa Square is also home to the First Baptist Church (1833),[7] the Independent Presbyterian Church and the Philbrick–Eastman House (1847).[8]