05/19/2026
Twenty years after its founding, the institution Toomer built took a new form.
In 1947, Georgia Savings and Realty Corporation became The Carver Savings Bank, formally chartered under the Georgia Department of Banking and moving from West Broad Street to 810 Montgomery Street. The new name honored a legacy. The new address signaled growth.
The formal opening announcement ran in the Savannah Tribune that June, listing a board of directors drawn entirely from Savannah's Black community. Every person listed was invested, not just financially, but personally, in what this bank represented.
Named for scientist and educator George Washington Carver, the bank carried a message: what you build from what you have can change everything.