Editor’s note: Savannah Agenda attempted to independently verify as much of the historical information in this column as possible through public records, archival material and other reliable sources. Some details, including accounts of the dairy’s origins on a farm or cooperative near Pooler, could not be independently confirmed beyond websites that did not identify their sources. Readers with additional documentation or firsthand knowledge are encouraged to share it.
From a pint of half and half to a passel of hipsters
By Tom Kohler
Bruce Feiler, a local guy turned New York Times bestselling author, was recently in Savannah promoting his new book about ritual. He argues that rituals help people feel at home. That idea got me thinking about how a stretch of Bull Street became what we now call the Starland District.
Bruce energetically made the case that humans are ritual making creatures, and that rituals have a certain pattern. They are shared, unnecessary, deliberate, and they help people feel at home. We’ll come back to this… and my profound apology to Bruce for such a humble description of his beautifully researched and written book.
A couple of weeks later I discovered that ritual is one of the reasons why the section of Bull Street within the Thomas Square/Metropolitan neighborhoods has now been branded the Starland District.
Stay with me. We’re about to climb deep into the usta machine…
When I was a small child we usta live on Seiler Avenue a couple of blocks west of Waters Avenue. We had a Starland Dairy milk man who delivered our milk in a horse drawn wagon. The story that I grew up with was that the horse knew the route and would stop at our house while the milkman was in the back of the milk wagon putting our order together, four quarts of milk and a pint of half and half.
We’re talking about a 70-year-old memory, so I checked with the “You Know You’re from Savannah If…” Facebook page, one of the definitive authorities on local post-World War II history for verification.
I got this reply from Ms. Angela Whittington Wilkerson: “I still remember my mother putting the empty bottles on the back steps. I’d watch for the horse and wagon to come down Harmon Street. The milkman never had to tell the horse to stop or go. The horse knew the route and would stop at our back door. He would move forward when the milkman stepped on the wagon! It was amazing to watch.”
The dairy’s roots go back more than one hundred years to a cooperative effort among dairy farmers out on Starland Road, (think Pooler), who banded together to establish their own processing and distribution company, according to Go South Savannah. The horse stables were on Montgomery and 49th streets, across from what usta be the Neal-Blun Lumber Company, which has been renovated and repurposed as The Shed by SCAD, a “think tank where design thinking, computer programming and STEM collide.”
The dairy complex covered two city blocks along Bull Street between 40th and 41st Street, north of the SEY HEY Lounge and South of Cha-Del’s.
The building was completed in 1932 and became an economic engine of the surrounding area, businesses and houses emerged, including Savannah’s first supermarket, David’s, which Abraham Rosenzweig opened in 1936.
Paul’s Soda Shop, founded by Greek immigrant Paul Rousakis, operated on the corner of Bull Street and Maupas Avenue where the Old City Mission is now located. The soda shop attracted young people from Savannah High School and Armstrong College, which usta be across from the Oglethorpe Club on Bull Street, the first block North of Forsyth Park. Rousakis’ son, Johnny, honed his people skills as a soda jerk before becoming Savannah’s longest serving mayor, serving from 1970 to 1992.
For years, there was a sign on the front of the City Mission building that recognized the former business there. The small sign, with an ice cream cone in the center, read “Paul’s Soda Shop” at the top and “1930-1955” at the bottom. By 2022, the building’s facade had been bricked over and the sign was gone.
Bart’s Bakery usta be on the corner of Bull and 42nd. Started in 1894, the bakery operated there for decades (the Polk’s City directory lists it until at least 1957), surviving the Great Depression by embracing new technologies such as sliced and wrapped bread, according to Ethos Preservation. Following the bakery’s closing, the buildings went through several uses, including housing C&S Upholstery Supply Company, and have recently been restored for new commercial spaces.
As Savannah’s white residents moved south, the neighborhood increasingly became home to Black residents and Black-owned businesses. City data show Thomas Square was 78% African American in 1995, compared with 20% white; by 2019 it was 40% African American and 56% white. Lester’s Florist, Boys to Men Barber Shop, and Tricks BBQ managed to remain until relatively recently. Long gone are The Looking Glass Lounge, Hair Creations, and The Uptown Restaurant.
Greg Jacobs and John Deaderick helped launch the “Starland District” concept in the late 1990s and early 2000s when they started buying and renovating properties in the area. Racheal Madson’s outstanding January 2000 Connect Savannah article “A centerpiece of neighborhood revitalization” abounds with optimism about what the newly anointed Starland District would become in a few short years.
“Despite the current state of the building, John Deaderick and Greg Jacobs have big plans for the property (former Starland Dairy at 2425 Bull St.). They will transform the building into a three-story design center, with living and working spaces for artists and designers and retail shops. The design center will be a place for artists, designers, craftsmen, clients, and neighborhoods to work, live and discover one another.”
Well, not so fast. When real estate plummeted in 2008 that dream turned into a financial disaster with multiple foreclosures and abandonment of newly purchased properties.
It wasn’t until 2012 that interest and investment in the area started to slowly re-emerge thanks in part to a ritual created by Alaska native Clinton Edminster, the owner of Starlandia Art Supply.
After moving to Savannah in 2009, Edminster dropped out of SCAD and, as he says, “started doing stuff.” Part of that “stuff” was the creation of a ritual based on the trolley cars that usta roam throughout Savannah. The lines serving the Thomas Square district ran along Whitaker, Abercorn and Barnard and were removed in 1920 as automobiles took over.
Here’s Clinton’s memory of the moment: “In 2012, a loose group of community members gathered together to host the first ever First Friday Art March. We built a team of young creative volunteers from Art Rise Savannah and took the lead in organizing the endeavor.” First Friday created and sustained the Art March/trolley every month for five years. That’s about 60 trolley rides, many of which included a walking parade as well.
Businesses and galleries were added to the map that was put out each month. As places came and went, the map and corresponding trolley route would change.
“Looking back we put a lot of stress on a few people – we should have simply had one route, but we changed the routes each time to expose people to different parts of the neighborhood,” Clinton said. “That was really tough on us – but it led to a lot more for everyone to see.”
So there it is. Sixty months of shared, unnecessary, deliberate trolley rides and parades helped transform several blocks of Bull Street into today’s Starland District. You’ll now find throngs of people, heavy on hipsters, visiting spots like Arts Southeast, Starlandia, and an ever-expanding bevy of shops and restaurants as part of First Friday each month.
From a pint of half and half to a passel of hipsters…
About the author
Tom Kohler has lived in Savannah for 72 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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