Efforts to erect the monument began in 1901 and were led by members of several patriotic groups in the city.

The association was founded with the goal of raising funds and coordinating efforts between several patriotic groups for the erection of a monument honoring Oglethorpe in Savannah.

[3] That summer, the president of the Colonial Dames urged state representatives from Chatham County to secure aid for the monument from the Georgia General Assembly, and on July 12, they introduced a joint resolution to the Georgia House of Representatives to provide for the erection of the monument.

[5] An amendment added to the resolution on August 2, 1906, stipulated that the monument would be erected in Chippewa Square, which was state property.

[7] In fall 1906, the commission selected sculptor Daniel Chester French, who at the time was associated with the architect Henry Bacon, to design the monument.

[9][10][11] In 1910, two busts of Confederate States Army generals Francis S. Bartow and Lafayette McLaws were removed from Chippewa Square to make way for the Oglethorpe monument.

B. Comer, Senators Augustus O. Bacon and Joseph M. Terrell, Representative Charles G. Edwards, and Chancellor David C. Barrow of the University of Georgia, among others.

On the next day, Thanksgiving, the Georgia Bulldogs and the Auburn Tigers played their annual football rivalry game in a field near Chippewa Square as part of further celebrations for the monument.

[1][16] Oglethorpe is depicted as wearing a contemporary military uniform from the 1700s, including a cuirass, waistcoat, boots, and a tricorn hat.

The statue faces towards the south, which, according to the Georgia Historical Society, symbolizes "the threat of Spain’s imperial ambitions to the young colony.

[16] Part of the original charter granted to Oglethorpe by Parliament is inscribed on the monument,[1] while on the south side of the monument is inscribed the following:[19]Erected byThe State of GeorgiaThe City of Savannah, And the PatrioticSocieties of the StateTo the Memory ofThe Great SoldierEminent Statesman, andFamous Philanthropist,General James Edward Oglethorpe who inThis City on the 12thDay of FebruaryA.