Annie Bannon of Thunderbolt - Catholic Diocese of Savannah

Thursday, August 21, 2003
FEATURE
Southern Cross, Page 3
She almost had a church named in her honor:
Annie Bannon of Thunderbolt
hen the Bannon family came to
Thunderbolt, Georgia in the 1870’s, they
were settling in a community which was essentially as old as Savannah. Both natives of
County Meath, Ireland, Edward Bannon and
Annie Marie Daly were married by Father J. F.
Kirby at Saint Patrick Church in 1869. The following year, their daughter, Mary Rosalie, was
baptized at the Cathedral by Father William J.
Hamilton. Two other daughters—Jane and
Frances—and a son, James Edward—later
enhanced the Bannon brood.
In 1875, Annie and Edward
Bannon opened Bannon’s
Lodge, which appears to have
been a resort hotel or inn,
judging by Edward Bannon’s
listing as a “hotel keeper” in
the 1880 Chatham County
Federal Census. The “lodge”
later evolved into a restauRita H. DeLorme rant which went on to
achieve national fame
because of its fine seafood. A far cry from the
trendy, gentrified community of today, nineteenth-century Thunderbolt, a community on
Savannah’s eastside, was, in the words of the
Sherpa Guide, “home to fishing families, who
worked the coastal waters and moored their fishing boats at the river.” In addition, it was a resort
community with its own race track, casino, fine
hotels and eating establishments. Among residents of Thunderbolt contemporary with the
Bannons were the Wall, Aimar, Courvoisie,
Ricupero, Smith, Wilharm, Mulligan, Carbonell
and Elmgren families.
Thunderbolt Catholics
From early on, Catholics of the area were
independent, industrious and deeply loyal to
their faith. They were also involved in their
community, aituated on the Wilmington River.
Edward Bannon’s home was the site of the first
election (March 16, 1886) held at Thunderbolt,
which—from the 1850s until the 1920s—
labored under the unlikely official name of
“Warsaw.” Annie Bannon became known
throughout the community, still stubbornly
called Thunderbolt by its inhabitants, for her
generosity and kindness.
Edward Bannon died on June 2, 1899, following a long illness, attended by the faithful Annie
and with his children by his side. After her husband’s death, Annie Bannon continued to manage Bannon’s Lodge successfully, welcoming
people from all walks of life to her restaurant.
The Bannons’ son, Edward, later took over management of the family business. Edward Bannon
was wounded by a mysterious gunman as he left
the lodge one dark night in 1914, but survived
the incident.
In 1925, Thunderbolt Catholics became the
responsibility of Father Daniel J. McCarthy, pastor of Blessed Sacrament, a church recently built
at Victory Drive and Waters Avenue. Earlier,
Nellie Dowling of Cathedral parish and Rosalind
Ward, a non-Catholic, began holding Sunday
Courtesy of the Diocesan Archives.
W
Thunderbolt in the early 20th century.
classes for Catholic children at the Glaibers’
Thunderbolt home. In 1926, the meeting place
for these classes was changed to the Fred
Elmgren home on Mechanics Avenue. Sunday
School was also held in the home of Helen Wall.
By the late 1930s, the number of Catholics in
the Thunderbolt area called for establishment of
a “mission chapel.” In 1937, this new chapel
was housed in what formerly was the Bannon
Lodge. (The business closed after Mary Bannon
died in 1928.)
From chapel to parish
The History of Nativity of Our Lord Parish
(1937-1999) relates: “From the beginning, the
parishioners were activists. They wanted their
own church desperately and were eager to name
it ‘Saint Ann’s’ in honor of Mrs. Annie Bannon
who had kindly provided a place for Mass to be
said as well as generously providing for the
parish in other ways.” From 1937 until 1947,
Bannon Lodge, remodeled to accommodate the
chapel, served as gathering place for
Thunderbolt Catholics. Priests who went to
Thunderbolt to offer Mass during the “chapel
years” included Monsignor Joseph E. Moylan,
Monsignor Joseph Cassidy, Father James
Mullin, Monsignor Joseph Croke, Father James
Conlin and Father (later Monsignor) Daniel J.
Bourke.
Designated a separate parish in 1942, the
growing congregation at Thunderbolt soon needed larger quarters. Property on Russell Avenue
donated by the Bannon family was disposed of
and more viable property on Victory Drive and
Mechanics Avenue was selected as the site of a
proposed new church. An article in The Bulletin
of the Catholic Laymen’s Association (November
28, 1942) announced “the formation of a new
parish which will embrace the Thunderbolt and
Wilmington Island areas” with Father Nicholas
Quinlan to be its pastor. The new parish, the article went on, “will be dedicated to Saint Anne.”
Completed in 1946, the new church—now
called Nativity of Our Lord—was consecrated on
November 2, 1947. The church was a group
effort, with members of the parish holding fish
fries and selling bricks at a quarter to a dollar a
piece to raise funds. Pastor John A. Morris
designed the church and spearheaded the work.
The son of a carpenter, Father Morris also carved
the wooden crosses for the church’s Stations of
the Cross. Nativity’s altar rail and confessional
came from the revered Saint Patrick’s Church
which once graced Savannah’s West Broad Street,
before being destroyed in the hurricane of 1940.
New statues were contributed by members of the
parish. This church served Catholics of
Thunderbolt and Wilmington Island for many
years and, eventually, had its own school taught
by the Sisters of Mercy. In 1980, a fire in the
choir loft caused considerable damage to Nativity
and necessitated extensive remodeling.
Generosity and dedication
Mrs. Annie Bannon did not live to see this
“new” church, now home to Saints Peter and
Paul Vietnamese parish. Nor did she live to see
Wilmington Island’s Saint Peter the Apostle
Church and Catholic School, built many years
later to accommodate the large number of
Catholics sifting into the area. Nevertheless,
Annie Bannon’s generosity and dedication
remain legendary. Nativity of Our Lord, the
small red brick church at the corner of
Mechanics Avenue and Victory Drive, came
close to being named in her honor and a street in
Thunderbolt—Bannon Drive—still bears the
Bannon name.
RITA H. DELORME is a volunteer in
the Diocesan Archives.