SAVANNAHS FAMOUS FIRSTS:

1736 - First English Hymnal

John Wesley, the third rector of Christ Church, published the first English hymnal in America. Sunday School classes organized at Christ Church by John Wesley are thought to represent the first Sunday School in history.

1742 - First Lighthouse on South Atlantic Coast

The first aid to navigation in the South was erected near the present Tybee Island lighthouse. The first tower was never lighted and served as a day mark. A second tower, built in 1742 and lighted in 1748, was the third lighthouse in America.

1788 - First Black Baptist Congregation

The first Black Baptist congregation was organized at Brampton Plantation outside Savannah. Their descendants established Savannah's First African Baptist Church and First Bryan Baptist Church.

1793 - Cotton Gin

Eli Whitney, a Yale graduate, invented the cotton gin while serving as a tutor on General Nathaniel Greene's Mulberry Grove Plantation outside Savannah. This invention revolutionized the South, making it possible to process cotton on a large scale.

1819 - The S.S. Savannah

This sailing vessel with auxiliary steam power crossed from Savannah to Liverpool England. Two weeks prior to the historic voyage, President James Monroe, the second president to visit Savannah, made an excursion on the vessel to Tybee Island.

1856 - Massie School

Georgia's oldest school in continuous operation was built in 1856. It was named for Peter Massie who left $5,000 for the education of poor children. Regular classes were discontinued in 1974, but it continues as a resource center.

1886 - Telfair Museum of Art

Built in 1819 as a mansion for Alexander Telfair, the academy was left to the Georgia Historical Society in 1875.Period rooms with many Telfair family pieces are maintained. The museums collection contains works by American and European artists, as well as special exhibits and is the oldest art museum in the South.

1912 - Girl Scouts

On March 12,1912 at her residence on Lafayette Square, Juliette Gordon Low formed the first Girl Scout troop in America. Mrs. Low's Birthplace, at the corner of Oglethorpe Avenue and Bull Street, is maintained by the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A and is a museum and national program center.

1733 Capitol of Georgia, America's 13th Colony

1733 First Jewish Congregation in the South

1734 First city planned on a system of squares in North America

1734 First agricultural experimental garden in North America

1735 First silk exportation from America

1736 First lighthouse on the South Atlantic Coast

1740 First horse race in Georgia

1755 First cattle exportation in Georgia

1763 First newspaper in the Colony, The Georgia Gazette

1788 First Negro Baptist Congregation in America

1788 First public school in Georgia, Massie School

1793 First cotton gin - Eli Whitney

1794 First golf course in America, Savannah Golf Club

1819 First steamship to cross an ocean, The S.S. Savannah

1832 First hospital for Negroes in America, Georgia Infirmary

1862 First use of rifled cannon in modern warfare at Fort Pulaski

1911 First motorized fire department in America

1963 First garden for the blind in Southeast