More Than A Park; A Legacy of Learning and Community on Tybee Island

From one-room schools to a 21st-century vision, Memorial Park has always been the heart of civic life on Tybee

The land now known as Tybee Island Memorial Park has been an essential location for the education and civic engagement of Tybee residents since the end of the 19th century.  Sharing spaces for multiple functions has been an important part of Tybee’s survival due to the limited available land, building resources and relative isolation inherent in island life. Therefore, it has been a long held Tybee tradition for this centrally located public land and its structures to serve multiple functions in order to provide people of every generation important necessary resources while keeping fiduciary and environmental costs low.  This is why for most of Tybee’s history the school, library and city hall have all resided on this land for over a century. 

First School Building

The first school on Tybee Island was established in an old two story wooden structure at the turn of the century, following the incorporation of the City of Tybee Island in 1887.  The location of this building was on the west side of Butler Avenue just north of the intersection of Center Street.  It was a multipurpose building with the upper level serving as an apartment for the teacher(s) and a single story wing of the building being used as the Town Hall (including lock-up space).

Second School Building

When the second single story school building was constructed around 1918 near the SW corner of the intersection of Butler Avenue and Center Street, the old school spaces of the original schoolhouse began to serve as the island’s public library.  This building remained in use at least until the new/current City Hall was built near the SW corner of Butler and 3rd Street and a new space within that building was designated as a children’s library.

Over the next few decades after the road to Tybee was constructed and the island began to shift into a year-round community the need for an even newer school became apparent as the community continued to expand. In 1946 - the year before Tybee Island Memorial Park was officially dedicated - Mayor Dutton and town attorney A. Leopald Alexander presented a resolution from the Savannah Beach Council acting on a petition of the Parent Teacher Association of the resort to request that the Board of Education erect a new public school stating that

“the [current] school is in bad condition, has no proper lunchroom facilities, is without proper desks, lights are inadequate, the plumbing has been condemned by the island’s plumbing inspector and the building is infested by large rats”...”98 pupils and three teachers in three class rooms are using the 30-year old building”...and…”the town has offered and continues to offer, an adequate site for erection of a new school.

Savannah Morning News, August 1947

One year after the town’s request for a new public school, a Savannah Morning News article from August of 1947 announced the dedication of “the new recreation park” to honor “the Four War Dead” and “100 Who Survived” at the World War II memorial in “Savannah Beach’s new recreation park” described as being “Completely landscaped and equipped the new park is located on Butler avenue between the Town Hall and the Tybee School.”

Minutes from the February 8, 1951 Council Meeting include the resolution transferring 5 acres of property to the county for a school.   The new school building (now commonly referred to as the “old school building”) was ultimately constructed in 1955 in the mid-century modern style.   It served as the public school for the majority of Tybee students until SCCPSS determined its necessary closure in 1988 and those children began being bussed off island to May Howard and later, Islands Elementary.

Plans for the current “old school” structure, which today houses the YMCA and many other community services.

Although the City of Tybee was able to buy back the land and building from the county in 1994, the space was utilized for other community needs and the only options local families had to send their kids to a school on their home island was St. Michael's private Catholic School, which served the community from 1948 to 2010.  As had occurred any other time the community has seen the island devoid of local education options, the residents got together and petitioned for a new school to open to serve their youth.  

Memorial Park Plat, 1956

Thanks to the efforts of dedicated educators, civic leaders and passionate neighbors Tybee Island Maritime Academy, often referred to as “T.I.M.A.” opened its doors in the old St Michael's school building and a new generation of island stewards began learning about their coastal environment in a project based hands-on education format that has since earned national recognition and awards.