By Tom Kohler
Jan. 20, 2026 – I call myself a “born-and-stayed Savannahian,” having lived here for 72 of my 74 years. These days, I usually get invited to talk about how things usta be. Now, I’ll admit up front that “usta” is a made-up word. With that said, it’s a great Savannah word.
For example: “The Krispy Kreme donut shop usta be on Skidaway, just down from where Larry’s Restaurant usta be.” Like I said, usta is a great Savannah word.
I was a little taken aback the other day when a 23-year-old friend — born and raised in Savannah (well, Wilmington Island) — didn’t know that there usta be two, count ’em two, art colleges in downtown Savannah.
Everyone reading this knows about SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design, which came to town in 1978, with current president Paula Wallace — then Rowan — arriving in a VW Beetle. That is, if one is to believe the SCAD history video shown multiple times a day at Poetter Hall. Or, more correctly, if one is to believe my memory of that video.
History buffs will know that Poetter Hall usta be, in this order: the Savannah Female Orphan Asylum (which burned in 1855), the Savannah Volunteer Guards Armory, the National Guard Armory, and later the home of the United Service Organizations (USO) for many years during the mid-20th century.
This is the same USO where my sixth-grade teacher, Ms. Bowen, went dancing with soldiers on Friday and Saturday nights as a USO girl. One night she took me, Donny Cogdell, John Weis, and one other sixth grade cut-up and presented us — crew cuts and all — as The Beatles. We lip-synced our way through their recently released first hit, “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Yeah, baby. That’s right — we’re talking 1964.
Well, enough about me and back to SCAD.
Full disclosure: I didn’t see what Paula Wallace was driving, so I can’t say whether the VW Beetle story is clever cartooning or factual truth. Either way, there are plenty of ways to learn more about SCAD, including its website, a 1992 New York Times profile examining its turbulent early years, and — if you’re brave — asking someone over 60 at Pinkie Masters lounge whether they were around for the 1990s SCAD student uprising.
What my 23-year-old friend also didn’t know is that downtown Savannah has hosted several colleges and universities over the years. So let’s run down a few.
Savannah’s other art college, the School of Visual Arts (SVA), arrived from New York City in the mid-1990s and departed before the decade ended. Its brief presence downtown remains controversial. If you prompt your favorite AI magic machine with something like “controversy between SCAD and SVA in Savannah,” you’ll have plenty to read.
On a more personal note, SVA was housed in the Standard Oil Building just across East President Street from my office at 127 Abercorn St. We shared “Bob the Mailman.” I’d heard about a well-respected SVA administrator who was going to be out of a job. I asked Bob if he knew her and he said, “if it’s Ashley Brown do whatever you have to do to get her.” I did, and for the next 25 years Ashley and I were a team.
- Related – SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART DESIGN INC v. SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS INC (1999) | FindLaw
- Related – Savannah College of Art. v. Visual Arts of Savannah, Inc. :: 1995 :: Court of Appeals of Georgia Decisions :: Georgia Case Law :: Georgia Law :: U.S. Law :: Justia
- Related – Gordon Varnedoe: Much more than just ‘Batman’ – The Savannahian
Moving onward — and backward — let’s talk about Armstrong.
Armstrong Junior College was founded in 1935. When my family attended Friday night services at Mickve Israel Temple, I usta see Armstrong students toiling over science projects on the second floor of what is now the United Way building on Monterey Square. To a 10-year-old, they were very cool — real, live college students burning the midnight oil and preparing for their futures.
Here’s the dry but impressive institutional timeline:
- Armstrong Junior College (1935–1948)
- Armstrong College of Savannah (1948–1964)
- Armstrong State College (1964–1996)
- Armstrong Atlantic State University (1996–2014)
- Armstrong State University (2014–2018)
- Georgia Southern University – Armstrong Campus (2018–present)
Retired Armstrong history professor Janet Stone’s book, From the Mansion to the University, is widely considered the definitive history of the institution.
Downtown Savannah has also been home to a number of other colleges and educational institutions over the years:
- Beach Institute — Established in 1867, it was the first school in Savannah built specifically for the education of newly emancipated African Americans. It closed as a school in 1919 and now operates as a cultural and educational center.
- South University — Founded in 1899 as Draughon’s Practical Business College, it has maintained a downtown presence through multiple name changes and ownership transitions.
- Savannah Technical College — Dating back to 1929, the institution began as the Opportunity School and occupied multiple downtown locations, including Wright Square and Bull Street, before relocating to its current campuses.
- Savannah Law School — A short-lived institution located in the former Candler Hospital complex at Abercorn and Huntingdon streets. It closed in 2018, and the property is now owned by SCAD.
- Ralston College — A small, recently founded liberal arts college with a limited downtown footprint. While often mistaken for a traditional campus institution, Ralston operates on a much smaller scale, primarily using historic properties for seminars and academic programming.
So, to my locally born and raised 23-year-old friends, here’s my advice: spend more time at Pinkie’s, and code what you spend into your budgeting app under “Education / Local History.” Because that’s how we usta learn things — from one another, often in a smoky bar.
About the author
Tom Kohler has lived in Savannah for 71 of his 74 years. He attended our local public schools, Armstrong and the University of Georgia. He was educated at Jim Collins Bar. The founder and longtime coordinator of Chatham Savannah Citizen Advocacy has been involved in creating a variety of civic organizations thru the years including the Jim Collins Bar Alumni Association, Savannah Rocks!, and Emergent Savannah.
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TOP POSTS
A fun memory hole story like all from Tom “Usta” Kohler. If he lived in the 19th century, he’d probably have quite a tale about how many orphanages & asylums (not all mental asylums) there usta be as there were many. As a forner SCAD student still living in Savannah, most from that time vividly recall the signs plastered in the windows of homes and businesses – “Room 4 Two” or “Room For Two” showing the support for 2 art colleges. I recognized pretty quickly that the small body of SVA students were largely more talented than the larger body of SCAD students and it struck me as a professional jealousy as much as real estate competiotion. The only other sign solidarity moment which seemed to rival those is when the last real population usta live downtown in the 1990s and none were happy with the tax officials, one of them in particular, showing as much by posting the appraiser’s home phone number on signs in the windows of their residences. By the way, like SCAD over SVA, the tax man won and mosta of those folks that usta to live here are long gone.