Written by Gracie Williams
This week in 1959, Hurricane Gracie hit the southeastern states. It formed near the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas, the hurricane slowly made its way across the Atlantic. Savannah was spared for the most part, but still experienced heavy rain and wind damage. In South Carolina, Gracie took the lives of 10 people, due mostly to automobile accidents and other indirect ways. According to a U.S. Weather Bureau preliminary report made on October 1, 1959, “The main force of the hurricane struck at low tide, and this prevented disastrous flooding from the hurricane tide.”
Photo courtesy of
Scientists have recently opened up past weather events, and have made some adjustments to this storm’s statistics based on modern technology they’ve acquired. Winds were originally stated as 125 mph but recently changed to 130 mph, which means the storm hit as a Category 4.
September 29, 1978, May L. Poetter, Paul E. Poetter, Richard G. Rowan and Paula S. Wallace legally incorporated Savannah College of Art and Design in the state of Georgia. From there, a board of trustees was established, and preparations were made for the opening of the university for the following year.
Photo courtesy of scad.edu
Before creating SCAD, Wallace, an Atlanta native, earned a B.A. degree from Furman University in South Carolina and then two M.Ed an Ed.S. degrees from George State University in downtown Atlanta. She then became an elementary school teacher in Atlanta Public Schools. Her dreams led her to Savannah wh
Refer to the previous article for an in-depth explanation of SCAD’s first week of classes in the fall of 1979.
